


Voodoo

by CelticShieldMaiden



Series: Triskele [1]
Category: Lee Pace - Fandom
Genre: Aisling is protective of her men, Anal Sex, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drama & Romance, Drunk Lee is hilarious, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Lee can be a dork, Matt is hotter than hell too, Multi, Oral Sex, Stalker get her ass handed to her, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:00:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 108,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28919451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticShieldMaiden/pseuds/CelticShieldMaiden
Summary: After his boyfriend of three years walks out on him, Lee Pace finds himself somewhat depressed and in Albuquerque at a comic convention. The handler assigned to him changes everything.
Relationships: Lee Pace/Matt Foley/Original Female Character
Series: Triskele [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121066
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction ever. It's also my first story in years. I started writing this just to see if I could still write.
> 
> This is also part one of a series. As I'm still writing the next part, I'll be posting one chapter a day of "Voodoo".

Voodoo

Chapter One

Lee Pace is very taken with the handler assigned to him for the New Mexico Comic Expo. Normally, he doesn’t really engage a lot with the handlers. He hadn’t needed to be there until late Friday, but had gotten there late Thursday. He had been in LA until Tuesday. To fly from there to NYC and then turn around and fly to Albuquerque two days later was pointless. Besides, it would give him a little time to think. So, since he was there early and the organizers knew it, they introduced him to his handler early. Lee asked her for her contact information just in case he didn’t know where to go, he was pretty sure he’d somehow get lost roaming around there. Surprisingly, she gave it to him with no hesitation. Meeting the hundreds of people that all want a little piece of him is exhausting and talking is not on the agenda during the down times. But he found he really wanted to talk to her. Aisling Macha...interesting. A red-head with green eyes, obviously Celtic. She was tiny, too. Well, most people were compared to him. He could tell that she was at least a foot shorter but she didn’t seem in the least bit intimidated by his height. That was refreshing and a novelty to him. She said she was born and raised in New Mexico. He had heard her using Spanglish on more than one occasion and she did have an accent. The juxtaposition was intriguing as hell. There is something different about Aisling than other handlers he’s had. He can’t help but ask her about herself and New Mexico. Maybe it’s that she just lets him be and doesn’t seem overly impressed with him. Just works on her computer, writing...something (wonder what it is?) and listening to, and occasionally singing along with, the music from her iPod that’s plugged into the dock. Amazingly eclectic, a little bit of everything. A lot of dance music, but tall people shouldn’t dance. 

_“What’s this?” Lee could tell it wasn’t English. “It’s Gaelic,” replied Aisling. “Ashley MacIsaac. The name of it is “Sleepy Maggie”. It has what’s called ‘puirt à beul’ which loosely translates to ‘mouth music’.” She was looking directly in his eyes as she said this and didn’t miss that his eyes dropped to her mouth. He felt his mouth go dry. Before he could say anything else, one of the organizers came in to collect them both for a pre-Expo photo session._

Friday evening had been...interesting. There hadn’t been any sessions that afternoon, mostly it was just people looking around at the vendors. Lee had decided to have a look around, Aisling had stayed nearby if he needed anything, but pretty much let him alone. After everything had been shut down and all the attendees had left, the organizers had decided that everyone needed a little party. They had it right out in the middle of the floor, brought in some food and drinks. Pretty soon, someone brought out a portable DJ station and of course a lot of people started dancing in the open areas. Aisling had been out dancing, saw Lee standing not too far from her and decided to do something about it. “If” by Janet Jackson had just ended. She didn’t realize that he had been staring at her through the whole song. Then “LoveGame” from Lady Gaga started blasting. _“Perfect,”_ she thought. She went over to Lee, didn’t even ask, just grabbed his hand and dragged him out with everyone else. This song had a good, heavy beat...and the lyrics were just suggestive enough to distract him. She suspected that was why he didn’t think he could really dance, he had trouble finding the beat and then over-thought what to do. She grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him down so she could talk in his ear, “Just listen to the words and follow me. Do what I do.” So he did and for the first time he didn’t feel like a shuffling mess. Even when Aisling started doing steps that he couldn’t hope to follow. But she never left him. Then the music switched to “Voodoo” by Adam Lambert. It was a slower song, but it still had a pulsing beat. Lee turned to leave, but Aisling caught his hand and wouldn’t let him leave. He was surprised at how strong she was given her size. “You have to learn how to slow-dance, too,” she said. She sounded serious, but he could see the teasing in her eyes. He let her guide him. Soon he decided this was now his favorite song.

Aisling was happy she got him to stay out with her. With the slower tempo, she was able to guide him a little more. Soon though, he seemed to find his own rhythm and took the lead. Actually picked Aisling up off her feet at one point. Which brought them eye-to-eye...and they just held each other’s gazes for the rest of the song. Green eyes to green eyes, both seeing something, but not willing to do anything about it...yet. The next song came on, someone bumped into them, and the spell was broken. Lee set Aisling down, but didn’t turn loose of her hand. They went to get a drink and look for somewhere to sit. There was only one chair available. Lee decided to be bold. He sat down and pulled Aisling down onto his lap. She couldn’t really protest since there was no place else for her to sit...not that she really minded. Lee was relieved that she didn’t seem at all uncomfortable when he did that. 

Around 10 pm, everyone started leaving since most everyone had to be back early. Lee decided that he needed to walk Aisling to her car, just to make sure she was safe. She was a little concerned about anyone seeing them, but nobody seemed to be around. “See you bright and too damned early,” Lee said to her as she started her car. “Absolutely. Go get some sleep. I don’t want to have to deal with a cranky giant in the morning,” Aisling told him. Later, Lee was lying in bed, but sleep was a long time coming due to his thoughts continually drifting to a certain petite red-head.

About an hour later, the alert on Aisling’s phone sounded. She looked and there was a text from Lee. _“OK…wonder what this is,”_ and opened it. _“Just wanted to make sure you got home safe. Don’t want to be without my favorite handler in the morning.”_ Awww...she answered him back. _“I’m home just fine. Going to sleep now...which is what you should be doing!”_

Aisling had noticed that Lee listened to people very intently. But even so, every once in a while, he’d still go “huh?” She already knew that he was dyslexic, but that didn’t seem to give him much trouble. Then she remembered she had read somewhere that he had been a swimmer, but had to give it up because of frequent ear infections. Hmm...she did know that ear infections can damage a person’s hearing. Never mind the fact that he stands at least a head taller than most everyone else. After that, she kind of stayed close so that she could catch things he missed. Because it was _loud_ in the Convention Center sometimes. Even though she had the hearing of a bat, Aisling had trouble hearing in there. She didn’t know how Lee managed. But somehow, he did and he really didn’t miss much.

Aisling had also noticed that Lee was very...tactile. Not that it bothered her in the slightest. She did notice how he kept getting closer to her while sitting in the media waiting area. No matter where she was sitting. It became especially noticeable when she was sitting on the couch. Lee started on the opposite end, within about 15 minutes, he was sitting right next to her so he could show her something on his phone. He also had the photo op photographer use her with him in the set-up shots and kept her very close to his side with his arm wrapped around her. Then when it was all over and he was leaving for the Sunport, Lee hugged her tightly goodbye and it was for far longer than it should have been given the very public setting. But she could tell that he was very reluctant to let go. Then he was whispering in her ear how much fun he had had with her...and brushed his lips across her ear and landed a lingering kiss on her cheek. “I’ll talk to you again soon.” Aisling was not really surprised considering when she thought back to what had happened on Saturday night...

Luckily nobody there, especially the organizers, had any clue that she had spent the night in Lee’s suite in the DoubleTree across the street from the Convention Center. It really was completely innocent...sort of. One of the infamous New Mexico monsoon season thunderstorms had moved in. The drainage in downtown Albuquerque was notorious for being almost nonexistent. This storm was one of the worst she had seen in years, slamming the whole city. The mayor declared an emergency and everyone was told to shelter in place. Which meant that Aisling was stuck for the duration. For some reason, she was the only one that seemed to be stuck there in the lobby. As she was standing there, wondering just where she was going to spend the night, Lee came wandering through. “Hey, what are you still doing here?” Aisling told him what happened and he said, “Why don’t you come over to my suite across the street?” She hesitated and he knew why, because of what the organizers at all cons told the handlers. “You know, everyone else is gone. Nobody is going to see. Besides, if they do and try to say anything to you, I’ll just tell them I’m being the gentleman that my parents raised me to be. Can’t leave a woman alone in distress. Besides, if you don’t come with me, I’m just going to camp out here with you all night,” with that adorable little half smile of his that Aisling frequently saw. 

So across to the DoubleTree they went. Neither had an umbrella and as it was pouring, both of them were soaked in seconds. When they got up to the suite, Lee offered her a couple of towels, not that that would help with the wet clothes much. He suggested she use one of the robes and hang her clothes up to dry since he needed to do that with his. Aisling had no problem accepting, wet clothes are extremely uncomfortable. Lee changed into a loose t-shirt and sweats that hung low on his hips and not leaving much to the imagination about what was under them...or not. 

“So, now what?” she asked. “Well, why don’t we get some food sent up? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Lee said. He pulled out the room service menu, “What do you recommend?” Aisling looked down the menu and smiled. “Do you trust me?” “Implicitly.” “OK, this is what we’re going to do. Green chile cheeseburger, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.” This could be fun because even though the menu said Hatch green chile, it gave no clue whatsoever at the heat level. That’s what the chocolate shakes were for.

45 minutes later, Lee is dying even though Aisling doesn’t find the chile particularly hot. He was basically a virgin when it comes to the state of New Mexico’s pride-and-joy. “Breathe, drink your shake. It’ll help with the burn. Then you’ll want another bite. By the third bite, you’re going to be just as addicted as the rest of us.” “You are evil, woman. But you’re right. This is awesome.” Aisling just kept giggling at him, Lee was completely entranced.

They settled on a couple of movies on Netflix...and then the power went out. There was something intensely intimate and liberating about the dark when there’s no light whatsoever... Even with bumping around until they could both locate their phones to use the flashlight function. But they both got settled on the couch with a couple of drinks close by and just talked for a couple of hours. Aisling asked him if her suspicion about his hearing was right. He was surprised that she picked up on it. “Well, when you’re talking to someone and there’s a lot of background noise, you really concentrate on their mouth. Sometimes you cup your ear, too. And I know you had to quit swimming because of ear infections, so…” “Aah...so that’s why you stayed closer nearby than some of the other con people,” Lee said. “Well, yes, that and a couple of times you wouldn’t turn loose of me,” Aisling said with obvious amusement in her voice. Lee was glad for the darkness because he knew he was blushing.

Aisling had thought, too, that Lee seemed a little sad when nobody was around. She finally asked him if he was and what was wrong. It took a little more prodding, and promising it would go no further than her ears, she finally got him to talk. Matt, his boyfriend of 3 years, was now his ex-boyfriend. There wasn’t any big blow-up or drama, they were just moving in different directions and were drifting apart. He and Matt had been arguing more than normal, but it seemed like it was just because of all the time they had had to spend apart lately. They both had their own habits that didn’t mesh all the time because of that. But about a month ago, after Lee had been in LA doing some pick-up sound work for “Driven”, he had gotten back to the farm looking forward to some downtime. Nobody had been in the farmhouse when he got there, but that wasn’t unusual. However, when he got upstairs to start unpacking his suitcase...that’s when he noticed that all of Matt’s clothes were just gone. He was confused. He went back downstairs and noticed that some other things that were Matt’s were gone. Then he noticed that there was an envelope with his name on it propped on the mantel above the fireplace. It was from Matt. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but he just felt like it was time to go. He wasn’t angry and he would always love Lee, but he wasn’t in love with him. Staying wouldn’t be fair to either of them. 

The sound of sadness in his voice broke Aisling’s heart and she just crawled over from her end of the couch and hugged Lee. At first, he tensed up, mostly out of surprise. But when Aisling ran her hands up into his hair, turned his head, and whispered in his ear, “I’m so sorry,” he immediately relaxed. Hell, he had been wanting to do this since they first met. Friday night had been torture because they were in public and he was trying not to be conspicuous. Especially since he still wasn’t sure how Aisling felt about him. “Why are you sorry?” “Because you’re so obviously hurting, yet you’re here, being the absolute sweetheart that you are,” she whispered in his ear. “Well, I’m feeling better now,” which was true since Aisling was lying between his legs, all warm and soft touches. It became clear what Lee was not wearing under his sweats. Then, Lee stretched out and turned slightly on his side to make room for both of them on the couch. Aisling also shifted so that she was facing him. She kept one hand up in his hair, lightly massaging his scalp, which relaxed him further. Even though there wasn’t any light, they could tell the other’s eyes were open and they just held that gaze for a while. Lee realized just how close Aisling’s mouth was and could feel her breath soft on his face. He couldn’t help himself and closed the last inch of space between their lips. There was no demand from him for anything but shelter and Aisling gladly offered it. There was some gentle exploration of each other’s mouths and some wandering of hands, but nothing more as neither wanted to break the spell. After a few minutes they broke apart and just lay quiet for a bit, arms wrapped around each other, legs tangled. Then Aisling asked him to tell her about his farm. She laughed at him at being scared of coyotes. They were all over in New Mexico. In fact, there was a pack near where her apartment was. He told her about his place in NYC. Of course he talked about his animals. She told him about what she did normally. She was a remote pharmacy tech, but, what was very interesting to him, was that she was a crew member for a hot air balloon. He had noticed some in the skies on Friday and Saturday mornings. She told him about the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. It sounded like a lot of fun. Somewhere around 2 am, Aisling had dozed off. Lee didn’t want to wake her, but his foot was going to sleep with the way he was laying on the couch. He gently and carefully, so as not to wake her, picked her up and took her into the bedroom. He laid her down on the bed and laid down next to her and was asleep in minutes. 

Aisling woke up suddenly. She had no clue what time it was, but it was dark and she could still hear thunder in the distance. She was lying on her side and realized there was a weight across her. As she woke up a little more and focused in front of her, she realized that the hand she was looking at on the pillow next to her head was not hers. That’s when she fully woke up and felt a big, solid warmth behind her. Then her eyes went wide when she realized suddenly where she was and who was behind her with his arm draped across her upper body and his leg wrapped over her hip. “Oh crap.” She hadn’t realized that was out loud until she heard a confused, sleep muddled “Huh? Wha..?” come from Lee’s mouth that was very close to her ear. She started to try to get up, Lee just pulled her back, “Shh...please stay? The power is still out and no way are you walking down 10 flights of stairs in pitch black.” The plaintive sound in his voice left her completely defenseless. No way could she leave after hearing that. He was also right that she didn’t want to walk down the stairs in the dark. She snuggled back into him and within minutes, she had drifted back to sleep.

They both woke up around 7am and the power was back on. What should have been extremely awkward, wasn’t at all. Aisling’s clothes were dry and she made use of the shower. Thank the gods that hotels supply so many toiletries now. By the time she came out, Lee had had some breakfast sent up. “Breakfast burritos? How did you know to get those?” she asked. “Well, after the green chile cheeseburger last night, I wanted to try more of the local food. Oh, I also had them send up hot tea. I noticed you never had any coffee.” The chile wasn’t quite as shocking this time, but it still made Lee wish there was a milkshake.

Nobody really noticed that they walked into the Convention Center together when they went back for Sunday’s activities. _“Good thing the volunteers have specific shirts to wear so nobody will know I never went home,”_ thought Aisling. The day passes uneventfully. Some noticed though that Lee watched Aisling a lot, but didn’t really think anything of it because she was supposed to be next to him the whole time, helping him with autographs. But he did ask for her specifically as an assistant again when they were doing the photo ops. Some people also noticed there was a lot of whispering and giggling between Aisling and Lee in-between pictures. 

It wasn’t until a few days later that some pictures that someone had taken surfaced on the internet. The first one was of Aisling sitting very close to Lee, kind of leaning into him, both of them looking at the person that was getting their very limited time with Lee. What couldn’t be seen in that picture was that underneath the table, Lee had his hand wrapped around Aisling’s thigh. Another one is of Aisling sitting in a chair next to Lee, leaning forward on the table, listening to what someone was saying to her. Lee has his arm across the back of her chair, fingers just touching her back, and he was looking at her. The look on his face...if looks could start fires. That’s when all hell broke loose…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The first thing that happened was that Michael, the creator and lead organizer of the NM Comic Expo, sent Aisling a message to call him. When she got on the phone with him, he immediately started chastising her about being so close to him. Aisling just let him rant on and when he finally seemed to wind down, she told him why she was that close to Lee. The man had trouble hearing, but for whatever reason didn’t mention it to the powers-that-be with the con. Should she have just sat back and not helped him? Isn’t that what the handlers were for? To help out the media guests? Michael, to his credit, backed down on that point and said that’s exactly what she should have done. He had no idea about Lee’s hearing. Aisling told Michael that Lee told her that he doesn’t like to make a deal out of it. But then he started in on the other picture of Lee staring at her. Aisling wasn’t exactly sure just what the hell Michael expected her to do about that. She had no control over who Lee looked at and how. Michael also let her know that several other people had seen the exchange between them when Lee was leaving and wanted to know what was going on between them. She told him she had no idea, that they had just gotten very friendly. Michael knew, too, that Lee had her phone number and wanted to know how and why. 

That’s when Aisling’s temper got the better of her. “Why in the hell is that any business of yours, Michael? The con is over with. I did what I was supposed to do and made sure my assigned media guest had what he needed. But if you have to know, he asked me for it in case he had questions or got lost in the Convention Center.” 

Then Michael dropped another bombshell...someone had seen her go across the street with Lee on Saturday night. “What the hell was that about, Aisling? You knew damn well you weren’t supposed to engage with the media guests, especially not go to a hotel with them!” “And you know damn well what the weather did that night and that I couldn’t get home. I saw him in the lobby at the Convention Center and he said his parents raised him better than to leave a woman stranded. Did you really expect me to try to sleep, alone, in the lobby like that?” Michael admitted that no, he shouldn’t have expected that. Aisling told him, too, that Lee had said he’d camp out with her all night if she had insisted on staying there. “I bet you would have liked that even less Michael!” “You got me on that one, too. But what about the people that saw you come back into the Convention Center together on Sunday morning? “Well, yeah, OK, I slept in his suite. The power went out and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let me go down 10 pitch black stories and then out into the powerless night. Not that I could even get my car out of the parking garage at that point since the gates wouldn’t have opened!” “Oh…well…” 

Not surprisingly, she was told in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t going to be welcome back to volunteer for the New Mexico Comic Expo next year. She didn’t really care, they didn’t really know how to value volunteers. After being with Balloon Fiesta for several years, she had gotten spoiled. AIBF knew how valuable volunteers were and how to treat them. As a result, she was very picky about who she volunteered with. She hadn’t really liked how they treated the “Sentinels”, as they called the volunteers (where did they get that ridiculous name?), almost like they were a necessary evil. Well, OK, yeah, she had not only crossed, but obliterated a few lines. But honestly, basically expecting her to just give Lee the brush-off when he was the one the initiated that first conversation would have been cruel. She was many things, but never cruel. “Michael, I think we’re done. If you have any other problems about my behavior, Lee said for you to call him and he’d straighten you out.” Aisling hung up and wondered just what the hell was going to happen. 

“That’s it. I gotta go back and see Aisling. See if this is what I think it is,” Lee thought. While he was packing again and seeing how fast he could get to Albuquerque, he realized he had no idea how to find her when he got there. All he had was her cell number. The people from NM Comic Expo were sure as hell were not going to be any help. He remembered her telling him about the pack of coyotes that lived near her place. Maybe that could help at least narrow it down? As this was all going through his mind, his phone went off. It was his manager, Alex. “I have got some fantastic news for you! Netflix has acquired the rights to produce a series about Thranduil after “The Lord of the Rings”. They’re calling it “Eryn Lasgalen”. They want you, naturally, and it will be for at least 10 episodes.” “That is awesome...wait. When are we starting and where are we filming?” “Well, it’s going to be a couple of months before the first scripts are ready. But Netflix decided it’s going to be one of their first projects at the newly acquired ABQ Studios. I do believe you were just in Albuquerque recently and had an...interesting...time,” she said, knowing full well what had happened. Alex was not only Lee’s manager, but had been good friends with him for over 20 years. She had been a little worried about Lee with Matt just up and leaving like he did. From what Lee had told her, she thought Aisling would be good for him. She had her own life, didn’t seem to want to leave Albuquerque, and had no interest in the fast-paced movie world and parties. Lee, even though he was an actor, was an introvert and going out all the time was difficult for him at best. He could get out of the spotlight in Albuquerque and relax. He couldn’t even really relax at his farm because that damned stalker knew where it was and had even visited and left something on his porch. If only they could do something about her. Alex knew she’d been in Albuquerque, but she didn’t manage to get any photo ops with him this time, thank goodness. Alex knew she had been the source of the pictures that had caused Aisling problems. Almost as if she was getting back at Lee for not having to deal with her for once.

The first thing Aisling decided she should do after getting off the phone with Michael was text Lee and give him a heads-up that he might be getting a phone call…  
_“Hey...how you doing? Just thought I better clue you in that you might be getting a call from the Comic Expo people. They know about me spending the night with you and some people did see us. I have no idea who took the pictures, but I did notice some creepy girl that seemed to hang around way too much? I’m so sorry.”_ “That’s all I can do,” she thought to herself. 

Less than 5 minutes later, her text alert pinged.  
_“Hey yourself. Quit telling me you’re sorry about things you didn’t do. You don’t control the weather and you had no control over what *I* chose to do. I was serious, if you hadn’t come up with me, I would have camped out with you. They certainly wouldn’t have liked that. I have no regrets about that night. I’m hoping you don’t either.”_ Aisling couldn’t help but smile at the reminder of what had happened that night. Regrets? Not on your life.

Her text alert pinged again…  
_“It’s me again. I’ve got some news that I hope you will think is good. Netflix is producing a series about Thranduil set after “The Lord of the Rings”, called “Eryn Lasgalen”. They’re going to film it at ABQ Studios. I had been planning on coming back anyway to see if I could get a guided tour of New Mexico…?”_

Aisling thought, “He hopes I think it’s good news? Is he insane? I always thought Thranduil should get at least his own movie. Now I get to see him again, too.” _“No, I don’t think it’s good news. I think it’s GREAT news, silly! When are you coming back?”_

She had hardly hit send when his reply came…  
_“Well, they want us there the end of October. How about the beginning of October?”_

Aisling didn’t waste any time answering him either…  
_“Sounds perfect. You’ll be here for Balloon Fiesta. Can’t wait to see you again. I have missed you.”_

His answer came back in seconds…  
_“Yeah, I’ve missed you, too...a lot.”_

In the weeks between when Lee found out about “Eryn Lasgalen” and telling Aisling that he was coming back to Albuquerque, he had a lot of things to tie up at the farm. Winterize things, lock things down, get someone to take care of the chickens. Find someone to take Pete and Arctic Freeze. Which was just as well, the place seemed way too empty and quiet without Matt...especially at night. Even though she thought it was funny, those damned coyotes creeped him out. You’d think someone raised mostly in Texas wouldn’t be bothered by coyotes, but nope. He never could stand the howling and yipping.

He was constantly texting Aisling, too. Sometimes asking her more questions about New Mexico, sometimes about something he had seen, sometimes about nothing at all, just to say “hi”. Aisling’s friends noticed all the text messages she was getting, but she wouldn’t say who it was regardless of how much they badgered her. They found it a little annoying and strange. Aisling, however, did not. Far from it. She found it incredibly adorable and my gods, but the man had such an intense curiosity about everything. It was certainly never boring.

Lee finally firmed up when he was going to Albuquerque. He also finally got up the nerve to actually call Aisling instead of texting. It would be easier to give her his flight information, not that he expected her to pick him up at the Sunport, he’d have a car sorted out. Also to let her know where he was going to be staying. But when he called, Aisling didn’t pick up. He sent her a text as well. She didn’t answer that either. Lee started to think he had done something wrong. Or that she was regretting what had happened and he was reading her completely wrong. A couple hours later, she called him. “Hey, sorry about that, I was outside on the Balloon Park field and my phone was in the car. What’s up?” Relief shot through Lee, “Hey, I just wanted to tell you when my flight gets in, that I’ve got a car rented already, and that I’m going to be staying at the...Tamaya Resort.” “Awesome, but you need to cancel that reservation at Tamaya.” “Why? Is it not a good place to stay?” “No, it’s a gorgeous place, but you won’t be staying there.” “Uh...OK? Where am I going to be staying?” Lee asked, sounding very genuinely confused. “At my place of course, you walnut. I didn’t even know that was a question.” “Oh...OK. Are you sure? I didn’t want to just assume…” “My place is plenty big enough. It’s a 2-bedroom. Although I do use one bedroom as an office, but I’m not going to make you sleep on the floor in there…” “Uhh...OH!” What Aisling meant suddenly clicked in Lee’s head. “Are you sure? I mean...I didn’t want to...well…” “You’re babbling.” “I know. Please stop me,” Lee said with a sigh. “I can’t until you get here…” Aisling answered with a laugh in her voice. “Well that’s something to look forward to. See you soon.” “Not soon enough.”

In the next couple of weeks before Lee was not only relocating, but basically moving in with Aisling for a few months, he was texting her multiple times a day. Asking more questions, mostly about the weather. All she could really tell him was to bring a little bit of everything and reminding him there were stores there, too. His excitement was obvious, but occasionally some insecurity would surface, too, if it took her longer to answer back than normal. Lee never said it to her, but he was actually nervous about her obviously meaning for him to sleep in her bed with her. What did that mean? He didn’t want her to think he was just trying to get in her pants. Well, he was, but still... He knew that was insane since it was her idea, but still. She had to talk him down a few times, gently reminding him that things were just getting busy. She wasn’t mad at him, just the opposite. She couldn’t wait to see him again.

His flight was on Oct 1. The day before, he suddenly realized an important piece of information he needed and called Aisling. “Yes, dear heart? Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.” “Yeah, I just realized, I kind of need your address?” “Oh...Oops. Yeah, that would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?” Thank goodness for GPS systems now and she was near a major intersection. “One little thing, though. The GPS is going to tell you to get off at Paseo del Norte and take 2nd Street. Don’t do that. Keep going and get off at Alameda. It’s a lot easier. But, if you get lost, call and I’ll come get you.”

The next afternoon, his plane landed at the Sunport right on time at 1 pm. He texted Aisling while he was waiting for his luggage. _“Down at baggage claim. I’ll be there shortly.”_

Aisling couldn’t help laughing while answering. _“Ha! More like an hour, sweetpea. Remember, I know what the traffic is like here. When you get here, my building is in the back. I have a gunmetal blue Jeep with a sparkly balloon on the back window. It’s right outside my bedroom window.”_

She was right. It was almost 3 pm when he got to her place. He couldn’t get over how nervous he was walking around to her front door. But every last shred of doubt went out of his mind when Aisling opened the door, smiled, and jumped into his arms. It surprised him, but he instantly wrapped his arms around her and couldn’t stop himself kissing her like he had been wanting to for two months. When they broke apart, she said “Maybe we should go inside instead of giving my neighbors a free show?” “Oh...yeah...you’re probably right,” Lee said, blushing a little. He didn’t put her down though, just stepped over the threshold.

When he got inside, he turned around, closed and locked the door, and pinned Aisling up against the wall next to the door. But instead of kissing her, he just stared into her eyes. She stared back, wound her arms around his neck and up into his hair. She pulled his face closer, stopping when their lips were just barely apart, and said, “What...are you waiting for?” That was all the encouragement he needed to capture her mouth again. The way he had her pinned with his hips allowed him to have his hands free and he wasted no time exploring her curves. He sure as hell hadn’t gotten enough in August and wasn’t sure that he ever would. Thank whatever deities were out there for it still being hot in New Mexico. She was wearing just a tank top and shorts. Lee palmed her breasts, he had wanted to do that in the hotel room, but didn’t want to seem like that was all he was after. He really wanted to thank whoever invented sports bras, too. None of that padding that you couldn’t feel anything through. His hands fit perfectly. He had always been of the opinion that anything more than a good handful was a waste and it was like Aisling was just perfectly made for him. For her part, Aisling had finally gotten her hands up under his shirt. Gods, that warm expanse of his back, she could feel muscles twitching and flexing under her touch. It was so much better than she had imagined. Her goal was to get it off and explore further. She had seen all those freckles in pictures and wanted to get some first hand knowledge. She finally pulled back a little and said against his lips, “My bedroom is straight behind you.” That snapped Lee’s attention. “No, not like this.” “What do you mean? I can tell that you want what we’ve both wanted since that night.” She pushed against what she had noticed immediately when he shoved her against the wall. “Yeah, but we’ve basically just met. I’d like to romance you a little first. Take you out to dinner. Finally watch those movies we tried to watch in August.” That got a grin and a giggle out of Aisling. “I guess you’re right, but you can’t blame a girl for trying.” “Oh, believe me, you are very trying, you little minx, but…” he set her down on her feet, “I don’t want to screw this up by moving too fast. Especially after what happened before…” Aisling, while back down on the ground, kept her arms around Lee. When he mentioned “before” and the shadow that crossed through his eyes, she knew he meant Matt. “I get it. We’ll take this however fast or slow you want...for now,” the last said with a decidedly mischievous look.

Aisling gave Lee a tour of her place and left him to put his things away, he was surprised that she had made room for him, while she made dinner. She thought letting him settle in and relax was better than going out. There’d be plenty of time for that later. Aisling could tell his anxiety had been off the charts. Still was by the way he couldn’t sit still while she was cooking, not realizing she was watching him. It was nothing fancy, just a pasta salad, it was too hot to cook anything else. She put the bowl with the pasta salad, two smaller bowls, two wine glasses and a cold bottle of rosé on a tray. “Come on. We’re eating out on the porch. Open the door for me?” She then poured him a large glass of wine. “Here. I think you need this.” “You’re not trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me, are you?” “I would never…” but there was a definite look in her eye that said otherwise. 

After dinner, they settled on the couch and pulled up one of the movies they were going to watch in August. About a half hour in, Lee was still on the other end of the couch and had made no move to get closer to Aisling. She had turned out the light, thinking that would make him more comfortable, but he still didn’t move. She did see the way he kept giving her sidelong glances. It was obvious that he wanted to get closer, but just...wouldn’t. 15 minutes later, Aisling had had enough. “Are you going to stay way over there all evening or are you going to come over here and get comfortable with me?” Lee looked at her with a combination of mostly longing, but a little bit of concern. “I want to, but…” “What is that look? Would you stop? Just come over here. All we’re going to do is watch the movie.” Finally, with a sigh, Lee moved to lay down with Aisling, with his head on her chest. She immediately wove one of her hands into his hair. It was so soft. He turned his head up slightly, “I’m not crushing you, am I?” “No you’re fine, babe,” with a soft kiss on his hair and wrapped her legs around his. “Just relax and watch the movie.” After about 10 minutes of just lying quietly and gently massaging his head, she could feel him finally start to relax. Towards the end of the movie, Aisling could tell from his breathing that Lee had dozed off. Suddenly, he shifted a little and ran his hands up under her back. Then he heaved a great sigh and she could tell from the way he suddenly felt heavier that he had completely fallen asleep. “Finally,” she thought. The poor man had been so keyed up and didn’t realize that she didn’t want anything that he wasn’t ready for. It was about 10 pm and she should be thinking about going to sleep since she had to be up and out by 7 the next morning. She didn’t want to wake Lee up, couldn’t even bring herself to move her hand out of his hair, like he hadn’t wanted to wake her up. But there was no way in hell that she could even consider moving him like he had her. Well, the lights were already off and her phone was close enough to reach. She set the alarm and turned the TV over to watch the news. When the weather was over, she turned off the TV, put her other arm around his shoulders and just listened to him breathe until she fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

All of a sudden, Lee was jolted awake by bagpipes. _"What in the hell?"_ At first, he didn’t recognize where he was, but whatever he was lying on was shaking a little. He woke up fully and realized that it was Aisling trying not to laugh out loud at his reaction to “Scotland the Brave”, which was the alarm on her phone. “Sorry about that. You went to sleep and I didn’t want to wake you, so I just set my phone. I forgot how loud it is.” Lee still had a disgruntled look on his face. She couldn’t stop herself from trying to smooth that line between his eyebrows. “It’s still dark, why are we awake?” he grumbled. _“Looks like he’s a little grumpy in the mornings. That is too cute,”_ she thought to herself as she moved her hand over to his temples. “That feels good. I have got such a headache.” “Oh, baby. I bet it’s the altitude and how stressed you were yesterday.” She kept massaging his temples and soon he shifted around and relaxed again. Aisling could feel his breathing starting to even out, she reached down and gently poked him in the ribs, “Oh, no you don’t. I need to get up and be out of here by 7.” “I’d rather just stay right here all day.” He had scooted up a little so that his face was in the crook of her neck and started kissing where her shoulder and neck joined. “So would I, especially when you’re doing that, but we won’t be able to for a couple of weeks. I’ve got to go up to the Balloon Park today and then we hit the ground running on the 4th.” “The 4th? I thought it didn’t start until the 5th?” “It doesn’t, but some pilots participate in what’s called “Albuquerque Aloft” on the Friday before. One or two pilots each go to local schools and inflate the balloons for the kids to get up close to. My pilot is one of them.” “That is so cool.” “It’s a lot of fun. So, while I’m up at the park, what are you going to do?” “I thought I’d go take a walk on the river. I’ve never actually seen the Rio Grande up close.” “You can get to it easy walking from here. Just cross the street that you turned off of to get here and follow the acequia right to the river. You can actually get down onto the banks from there. There’s all kinds of trails to follow down there, too.” “Then that is what I’m going to do.” “OK. Just don’t forget to take water with you and take more than you think you’ll need.” “Yes, mom.” Aisling rolled her eyes, “Move sarcastic boy.”

That afternoon, before Aisling got home, Lee decided that they needed to go on something resembling a proper date...except he had no idea about anywhere to eat. He also wanted to surprise Aisling and asking her about restaurants would spoil that. So he pulled out his computer, Aisling had left the password for her wireless network out, and he spent the next hour looking up places. He finally settled on D. H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro, but he was sure that she’d figure out where they were going pretty damn fast. 

About 4 pm, Aisling pulled into her parking space, happy to be home. She knew Lee was a big boy and could take care of himself, but she really hated leaving him alone the first day he was there. The front door opened as she got there and she found herself up in the air all of a sudden and Lee kissing her like he hadn’t seen her in 6 months. _“Well, I could certainly get used to this,”_ she thought. She also noticed that, while it wasn’t a suit, Lee was a little more dressed up than the shorts and t-shirt he’d had on earlier. “I know you just got in and you might be tired, but I’m taking you out on an actual date. We’ve got reservations for 6pm. Even though I’m sure you’re going to know before we get there, I’m not telling you and I’m driving.” “Oh, you got it all figured out, do you?” “Can’t say I don’t know how to treat a lady...now go get changed!”

The second they turned down Rio Grande Blvd, Aisling was pretty sure she knew where they were going, just based on what she knew about Lee. She was absolutely correct, too. What she didn’t mention was that Lescombes was one of her favorite places. The food was the usual perfection, especially dessert. That Ghirardelli Port Brownie was borderline illegal. The wine, of course, was phenomenal. Not surprising since they were an award-winning label. It was nice for both of them to just relax and talk about everything that had gone on. Aisling asked about that creepy chick that she had noticed. She had mentioned it to him when they were trying to figure out where those pictures of them had come from and who had tattled on her to the Con officials. “Yeah, she’s been a thorn in my side for some time now,” Lee said. “Thing is, she’s never done anything threatening so there’s nothing law enforcement can do. The first few times, it didn’t click right away, because the events were all close enough to each other for it not to seem strange to see some of the same people. Then, when I started to see her at other events, especially in Europe, it started getting really weird. Since she had the credentials and tickets for the autograph sessions and photo ops, we really couldn’t stop her.” “I’ve seen some of the videos she’s taken. A couple of them, she was clearly some place she wasn’t supposed to be and got busted. I mean, being interested in what an actor you like is doing and where they are is one thing, but actually following them all over the place? Wow. That is beyond creepy.” “That’s why I’m pretty sure she was the source of the pictures in August, because she wasn’t able to get at me for once.” “Well, she just needs to back the hell off. I won’t put up with that kind of shit.” They talked some more and finished dessert. Lee told her about how far he had gone along the river. Then they headed back to Aisling’s place.

Both of them were quiet on the drive back home...Lee was already starting to think of her place as “home”. Aisling had left one low light in the living room on, when they got back and she didn’t turn any other lights on. Lee closed the door, quietly asking, “What time do you have to be up tomorrow?” “Hmm…? Oh, I don’t. I’ve got a couple errands to run, but they can wait until afternoon.” “Good, because now I can do this properly.” “Do what?” He stalked towards her in the low light, “Make love to you all night. Make you scream my name. And you won’t even have to try to make me scream yours.” Aisling hadn’t realized just how close he was until he picked her up and kissed her like she was the very oxygen he needed to breath. At the same time, she wrapped her legs around his waist, broke from his mouth, and breathed in his ear, “Finally...take me to bed...now.” It took him five steps to get to her...their...bedroom. It took another three to get to her...their...bed. The whole time, Lee had one hand on her back, under her t-shirt, supporting her. As small as she was, that’s all he needed. The other was working on getting her t-shirt off and her skirt undone. He wasn’t being very successful at either. When Lee got to their bed, Aisling had kicked off her shoes and was able to just stand on the bed, which brought her to a little higher than eye-level with him. She had been working on the buttons on his shirt and had it shoved off his shoulders by the time he set her down. Lee finally got her shirt off over her head and just stared. She pulled back and looked at him with a question in her eyes. “Perfect,” he breathed. He wasn’t talking about the black satin bra she was wearing. She smiled and said, “Yes, you are,” since she had gotten his shirt completely off as well. Lee looked back up into her face and captured her mouth again. Aisling took that opportunity to lower down to her knees and pull him down onto the bed with her. “Your jeans have got to go,” she sounded frustrated as she went to work on unfastening them. Lee had no such problems as she was wearing a mini skirt that took no time to get rid of, leaving her in the black satin panties that matched the bra. He stopped and stared at her again. “Would you stop that and at least help me get your pants off? You’re not being fair.” He shook his head and flashed a grin, “Your wish is my command.” He kicked his shoes off and pulled his jeans off leaving him in his black boxer-briefs. At that point, he couldn’t wait anymore and pushed her down into the soft bed, lowering himself to rest on his lower arms and settling between her legs…”Thank the gods I’ve got a king-size bed,” Aisling thought. Nothing worse than worrying about falling off the bed. “I’m not crushing you, am I?” Lee asked as he looked down into her eyes. “No, I’m fine.” In fact, even though he was heavy, she loved the feeling of his weight on her. He swooped down, his tongue sweeping over her lips, begging for entrance which she gladly gave. She hadn’t even parted her lips before his tongue was invading her mouth. She matched him and pushed back into his mouth earning a deep groan from Lee. Her hands finally got on that glorious expanse of his back that had been distracting her since the day before, when suddenly, he captured both of her hands and pinned them over her head with one hand. He just barely ghosted his other hand over her skin making her arch her back, trying to get more contact. Aisling finally got it, not from his hands, but his mouth. He took his time exploring, too, damn him, and discovered that her bra was a front clasp. He wasted no time popping the clasp and finally getting his mouth on part of what had been on his mind since yesterday. Lee swirled his tongue around one peak while gently massaging the other. Aisling arched into him even further. “Oh, you like that?” he grinned up at her. “No, not a damn bit. Try the other one,” she ordered. He complied and got a whimper out of her this time. He pulled back and blew lightly over her heated skin. She shuddered with a low moan. He then traced a trail further down her stomach, still not releasing her hands, no matter how much she squirmed. He stopped at the top of her panties and traced along the edge with a finger of his free hand, looking up to see Aisling’s eyes on him, begging him not to stop.

Lee finally hooked his finger through the thin little band on her hip and gently tugged them down. Aisling lifted her hips to help him. He slid them down as far as he could and she kicked them off the rest of the way. He still had not released her hands. He came back up to where he had left off and continued with soft butterfly kisses until he got to where she wanted him most. He pulled on her still-captured hands and held them at her stomach while he explored her soft folds with his tongue. The moment he made contact, she bucked her hips up, trying to get him deeper. “Oh, no. Not yet, little one. We’re just getting started.” “At least let me have my hands back?” “Nope. I know what you’d do. Like I said, this is going to take all night.” “Fuck...me…” “Later. I’ve got other goals right now.” Aisling just growled. Lee went back to where he had been when she interrupted him, going a step further and pushing her thighs further apart to expose her to him. He blew softly on her core to cool it, getting a mewling sound out of her and she renewed her attempts to get her hands free. Then, the cool air was replaced by his hot tongue, alternately circling and sucking. He kept teasing her that way until she was a writhing mess. Just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore, she felt one and then two of those long fingers of his enter her. He started slowly, barely stroking all the while keeping his thumb on her sensitive nub and driving her even more insane. Aisling twisted her hands even more trying to get them loose. Damn, but he had a strong grip and she could feel him laughing at her attempts to get free. Lee increased the speed and then crooked his fingers to hit a spot that made her see stars as she screamed his name. Gradually, as she regained her senses, she realized he had finally turned loose of her hands. She opened her eyes to see that Lee was grinning at her, looking entirely too pleased with himself. “I told you I’d make you scream my name.” “Oh, you utter bastard. You’re going to pay for that.” “I was counting on that.” She grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled him up her body. But when Lee went to kiss her, she surprised him by hooking one of her legs over his and flipping them over. Aisling wound up exactly where she wanted, straddling his waist just above the boxer-briefs he still had on. That was going to work well to her advantage. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was going to make him pay. “Since I can’t possibly hope to do anything about your hands, I’m going to make you keep them at your sides all on your own. Either of them touch me before I say, and I will find something to tie you up with.” “I promise to behave.” “Uh-huh...we’ll see…”

Aisling moved like she was coming back up to kiss Lee. But instead grabbing his chin and turning his head and angling his jaw up until she saw what she wanted and attacked those insanely sexy veins on his neck. She nipped and sucked at them like she was a vampire. It wasn’t long until she had Lee whimpering. She then decided she wanted his arms over his head. “Remember, keep them there or you’ll be sorry.” Lee didn’t think he would be and almost decided to find out, but was more curious to see what she was going to do instead. She ran gentle hands over his sides and up to his armpits and then leaned over and gently bit right where his shoulder and neck met, making him shiver and shudder. Then she slid her hands over his chest to his nipples that she delightedly found out to be extremely sensitive to her running her nails over them lightly. “Oh, god…don’t stop.” “No, love, I’m a goddess, and I am nowhere close to done.” She glanced down and could see the bulge and wet spot that were evidence of what she was doing to him. Those boxer-briefs were getting rather tight looking. Maybe she should do something about that...as soon as she was done up here. She went up his flanks again and then lightly up his arms. His hips bucked and the groan that came out of his mouth bordered on the obscene. “What are you doing?” “Paying you back for what you did to me. Or do you want me to stop?” “No!” “Then shhh...and let me continue.” She traced the slight glory trail from his navel to where it disappeared into his briefs. Aisling couldn’t resist and slid her hand inside to palm him. A guttural noise reached her ears and she smiled. Then she slowly, carefully, slid the briefs down, freeing his impressive erection. She continued sliding them down his thighs and off, not touching where Lee wanted her to and he whimpered. She came back up and gripped him, sliding from the base to the swollen tip, running her thumb up the groove on the underside. He started to buck up, but she turned loose and pushed him back down. “Now, you really need to learn to control yourself better.” “Minx.” She just smiled at him and returned her attention to where she had been. She straddled him so that her knees were outside of his thighs just south of his hips. 

She was just leaning over to take him in her mouth when she suddenly found herself yanked up, flipped on her back, and pinned. When she looked up to chastise Lee for not following her rules, Aisling found herself looking at pupils that were blown and saw raw lust there. “I’m done playing,” he growled and entered her in one swift movement...and then stilled. “I thought you were done playing...what are you waiting for,” she lightly goaded him. She was pretty sure she was poking the bear, but she didn’t really care at this point. “I’m just considering my options.” “Consider faster.” With that, he pulled out, turned her around to her knees and entered her again. But he surprised her again by splaying his hands over her breasts, cupping them, and rocking back on his knees, taking her up with him. She was shocked by the depth of the penetration. Then he started to move and all she could do was drop her head back onto his shoulder. He slid one of his hands into her hair to cup the back of her head. “Seems my little minx likes this,” he whispered in her ear. “Let’s see if I can find something you like more.” He slid the other hand from her breast down her torso, lower down to her most sensitive area just above where they were joined, thrusting up all the while. Aisling reached one of her hands up and caught a handful of Lee’s hair and yanked his head down so his ear was next to her mouth, “When do I get to make you scream my name?” she demanded. “When I follow you over the edge. Ready?” She nodded her head “yes”. Lee pumped faster and kept his hand down to where he had slid it, rubbing gently. She could feel her climax coming on like a freight train and all of a sudden the stars were bursting behind her eyelids again. This time was a little different, she felt Lee go even harder inside her, the hand that was in her hair came around to lightly circle her throat and bend her head back. Then he did follow her over, her name spilling out of his mouth as a cross between a curse and a benediction. They both shuddered heavily, Lee leaned back down onto his legs, taking Aisling’s weight with him, supporting her while they both recovered their breath. After a couple of minutes, he slid out of her, gently turned her around so that she was sitting on his lap, and wrapped his arms around her. “You said I would make you scream and that was not a scream.” “No, it wasn’t. But I wasn’t capable of actual speech at the time.” Aisling yawned a jaw-splitting yawn. “Wow. Sorry, I don’t know where that came from.” Lee laughed, “I think I do. We’ve both been wanting this, but I wouldn’t admit it and it was frustrating you.” “Yes, you were, you jackass,” she responded with a small smack on his shoulder. Lee had been messing with her hair the whole time. “Have I ever told you how glorious your hair is? Soft and the color…” “No you haven’t and you can anytime you want. I used to get picked on when I was little and hated it for a long time,” with another large yawn. Lee said, “I think it’s time we got some sleep.” He shifted again and stretched out, pulling Aisling to lie down next to him. She rolled into him and laid her arm up over his chest so that her hand was over his heart. He put his hand over hers. Her breathing evened out almost immediately. Then he felt her shiver a little and realized that it was pretty cool already and he knew it would get cooler. Damnit, the covers were underneath them. Hold on, he was close enough to grab the edge of the duvet and pull it over them. It didn’t quite reach. _“That isn’t going to cover both of us… hmmm… OK… if I do this carefully…”_ Lee gently slid an arm under Aisling and pulled her up to lay on him. When he made sure she wasn’t going anywhere, he reached out that arm, grabbed the edge of the duvet and wrapped it and his arms over her. She made a slight sound and burrowed her head down so that it was in the hollow of his neck where his collar bones came together, but didn’t show any sign of waking. Lee kissed the top of her head softly and laid there for a bit wondering how he had gotten so lucky. Soon he fell asleep, too.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When Aisling woke up the next morning, it took her a moment to figure out what that noise was. She woke up more and realized that Lee’s face was tucked into her neck and he was snoring softly. She also realized that she was pretty much underneath him. Not that she was complaining. He was warm and she was comfortable. She could feel that he had one arm down the opposite side of her, his hand tucked under her ass. She could feel one leg stretched straight down, but the other one was wrapped around her hips. _“That explains why I can’t feel anything even though I know how cool it’s getting in the mornings.”_ She just laid there, listening to Lee breathing...then she got curious about something. She snaked her hand down and found what she was looking for. She gently stroked his length and was rewarded by an immediate hardening. “You are playing with fire, little one,” a soft, sleep-scratched voice said in her ear that was accompanied by a squeeze of her ass cheek. “I was just seeing if _everything_ on you was cranky in the mornings, or if it was just your face.” That earned her a huff in her ear. Aisling turned and kissed Lee’s mouth softly and realized that he wasn’t really awake yet. She was just going to turn her head to see what time it was when he softly brushed his mouth against hers. They just laid like that for a time, mouths barely touching, occasional sleepy half-kisses, and breathing each other’s air. Just like in August, there was no hint of morning after awkwardness. Almost as if they had been together for years. Soon enough though, Aisling did move to try to get up, Lee’s grip tightened on her. “Nope, you’re not getting out of this bed yet.” “Yes, I am. I need to pee.” “As long as you come right back. Don’t make me come looking for you.” Aisling rolled her eyes, “That’s an empty threat and I think you know I know that.” “Yeah, whatever.” _“Yep, grumpy in the mornings,”_ she thought to herself.

Less than 3 minutes later, Aisling was back. Lee hadn’t moved. She got back under the covers with him. “Let’s see what we can do about your mood this morning,” and returned her hand to where it had been earlier. Which got a yelp out of Lee because her hand was now cold. “Oh, now you’re going to get it.” Aisling found herself on her back with one leg hooked over Lee’s arm and being pushed up while she could feel him just barely pushed into her core. He pushed in a bit more and immediately pulled out, but not all the way, and just continued teasing her for a bit. “You are being sadistic,” she groaned. “You asked for it, grabbing me with a cold hand like that. You know what cold does to a man.” “I’m sorry. Now would you please stop screwing around and…” She never got to finish that sentence. Because Lee was making himself suffer just as much with what he had been doing to her and decided to put them out of their collective misery. When they were both breathing normally again, Lee groaned, “I could get used to waking up like that.” “Oh yes...but we really should get up. I really need a shower and I’m starving…” “You’re gonna kill me...” “For food, you pervert.” His sense of humor sometimes... 

Aisling was serious about needing a shower. She put on some music while waiting for the water to get warm and then stepped in. She had hardly put her head under the stream before Lee was opening the door and stepping in. “Turn around.” “Why?” she asked him with obvious suspicion in her voice. “I promise, the only ulterior motive I have is to wash that gorgeous hair of yours.” “O...kay…” clearly not trusting him. He was pretty much true to his word, but didn’t wash just her hair. Never had she had someone bathe her like that and while his hands went literally everywhere, there was no attempt to do anything else. Not that she would have stopped him. She felt compelled to return the favor...well the parts she could reach. Unless he got down on his knees, she had no hope of shampooing his hair.

The rest of the day was just finally having some uninterrupted time with just each other. They also had to make an early night of it because 3:30 would come early the next morning. Lee had Aisling’s back tucked up against his chest with one arm bent under her head, cushioning it, and the other arm and a leg wrapped around her. For whatever reason, he seemed to feel the need to surround her, almost like he was protecting her. Not that she was complaining, it was a nice feeling. “You don’t have to come out with me every morning. I’m used to it, but I know it can be exhausting.” Aisling said quietly. “No, I want to, but I don’t want to be in the way.” “You could take pictures? I’ve seen some of the photographs you’ve taken and they’re gorgeous. You could be our own private official photographer.” “OK...but for now go to sleep.” Aisling drifted off, but Lee was awake for a while, worrying.

On the drive over to the school the next morning, Aisling could tell something was bugging Lee. He was very quiet, more than could be down to the early hour. “What’s wrong?” “Hmm...oh...nothing… Well, I am basically meeting your family. What if…” “Stop that. You’re fine. They don’t bite. Well most of them don’t, but they’ve all had their shots,” she joked. She glanced at him and the look on his face, he was really scared. She reached over and squeezed his thigh. “It’ll be fine. I promise.” He put his hand over hers on his leg. She turned her hand over and laced her fingers through his. When they got to the school, she parked, lifted their hands, and kissed the back of his. She knew everyone was watching. “C’mon, babe, let’s go.” They got out and Aisling walked around to the passenger side where Lee was still hanging back. She grabbed his hand and walked over to where everyone was standing, staring. “Hey, I’d like you to meet someone. This is my boyfriend, Lee.” She could tell he was just as surprised as the balloon team by how his hand tightened on hers when she said that. Luckily, her pilot, Bill, welcomed him and immediately started telling him about the system. Aisling was pulled aside by Nathan, an older gentleman. “Your...boyfriend? When did this happen? I don’t know if the others realized it, but I recognize him. I know who he is.” “When I volunteered for the NM Comic Expo back in August? I was the handler assigned to Lee. Remember that storm that Saturday night? I got stuck down at the Convention Center and he basically came to my rescue and I spent the night in his room.” Nathan’s eyes went wide, “You what? Someone you just met?” “Oh, calm yourself. I’m a grown woman. The power went out and we just talked for several hours. He was not in a good place, the guy he’d been living with for 3 years up and moved out just before Lee came here.” “The _guy_ he’d been living with?” “Oh...shit…” Aisling thought. She hadn’t even considered that little detail because she just plain didn’t give a damn about Lee’s orientation. “Yes, his boyfriend. Anyway. We kept talking by text. Then one day, he called and said he was going to be coming back to Albuquerque. Netflix is making a series based around Thranduil and they’re filming it at ABQ Studios and other places around the state.” “Just as long as there’s no more ‘staying in his room’ going on. Especially with someone like him.” “Well, that’s going to be hard to avoid since he’s staying with me.” “He’s staying with you? Just how did he manage that?” “It was my idea.” “Can’t imagine he’s happy on the floor in your spare room.” “Who said he was sleeping on the floor?” That shut Nathan up for the duration of the time they were at the school.

Later that afternoon at home, they were in the kitchen. Aisling was cooking some pasta and grating some Parmesan for the Alfredo sauce she was going to make and Lee was over at the sink cutting up some vegetables for a salad. Aisling asked Lee if he was feeling better about her friends. “They’re great! Except for that Nathan guy. He was giving me the stink eye the whole time.” “Yeah, I am so sorry about that. He seemed a little, umm, not really happy about the fact that you have an ex-boyfriend.” “You’re doing it again.” “What?” “Apologizing for something you didn’t do.” “I know I can't control what others do, think, or say. But it bugs the shit out of me when someone I thought was a decent person makes vicious insinuations like he did.” She walked over behind Lee and put her arms around him. He put down the knife and turned around in her arms. Aisling was just staring at the middle of his chest with an annoyed look. He ran his hands up into her hair, put his thumbs under her chin, and lifted her head up to look at him. “I have been running into people like that for years. I don’t give a damn what they think. I only care what my family thinks...which includes you.” “I know, but…” He silenced her with his mouth. “Shh...don’t worry about it,” he said against her lips.

The highlight of the week was when Bill took Lee and Aisling up for a ride on the second Saturday morning. She had been on lots of flights, but this was Lee’s first ride. He was like a little kid, looking all around after he got over being nervous about the height. Then he couldn’t get over how still and quiet it was up there except for the burners. She had no idea how many pictures he took up there. Luckily Bill was tall, too, so Lee only cracked his head on the burner bar a couple of times. But Aisling made sure to kiss it better.

The week passed without any problems with Nathan, even though he spent the whole time shooting daggers with his eyes at Lee. Especially whenever he showed any sort of physical affection towards Aisling. He was almost apoplectic on the second Saturday. That was the day of the Music Fest at the Balloon Park. Pretty much everyone came back to spend the afternoon tail-gaiting, just relaxing, and listening to the music. Lots of people had a canopy so there was plenty of shade and most everyone had chairs and blankets. It was a nice way to relax after a long week with only the second Sunday to go. After eating, just about everyone on Aisling’s team decided a nap was a good idea. Lee seemed pretty tired, but she wasn’t too surprised. It was exhausting and she always felt like she had jet lag after Fiesta was over. Lee had taken his shirt off and was stretched out on his back with one arm over his head and a leg bent. Aisling had laid down next to him, her head on his shoulder, and draped an arm over his torso. His eyes were closed, but he wasn’t asleep. “You really should put some sunblock on, Lee.” A smirk formed on his face, “You think so? I think I’ve got some right here…” and pulled her up onto his chest and settled her on top of him, with one hand splayed on her lower back to hold her in place. “That’s better. Comfortable?” “Absolutely...only way it would be better is if this was our bed and nobody was around.” Lee crossed the leg that was up over her legs and what she felt as her hips were pushed down made her say with a giggle, “Looks like I’m not the only one that thinks so.” “Just wait until tomorrow night, little one.” “Is that a promise or a threat?” “Both…” he said with a slight growl that made her shiver.

Over on the other side of where the balloon team had set up, Nathan was watching them, seething and muttering to himself. Bill looked at him and asked, “Just what in the hell is the matter with you?” “She’s making a huge mistake!” “What are you talking about?” “Well, someone like him. Can’t make up his mind if he likes boys or girls. He’s obviously taking advantage of her.” “Like hell he is. I talked to Lee while telling him about balloons. He’s an awesome guy. He was genuinely interested, you should have heard all the questions he asked this morning.” “Yeah, but…” “But nothing. They also told me everything about how he and Aisling met, and I mean everything, and it’s completely obvious that he’s head-over-heels for her. I know he hasn’t told her that though since I don’t think he’s realized it yet.” Nathan shut up, but Bill knew this wasn’t over. 

Later that afternoon, Aisling was on her way back from the portables when Nathan stopped her to have another “chat” about Lee. “You know, you really shouldn’t be making a spectacle like that.” “Like what?” “Letting someone like him put his hands all over you like that.” “Not this again. Look, you obviously have a problem with the fact that Lee is bi, but it’s just that...your problem.” “Oh, come on, Aisling, you know that people like him just can’t make up their minds or make a committment and are after nothing but a quick fuck. Once he gets that, he’s going to be out of there and you’re going to wind up with a broken heart.” Aisling shot back, “Nathan, there was nothing quick about it,” and stormed back to their area. Lee could tell she was steaming about something and suggested they go look at the vendors. When they got out of earshot, he tugged her hand to get her to stop and pulled her into his arms. “OK, what has got you so hot? Not that it isn't attractive as hell and you're lucky we're in public.” “Nathan. He had the nerve to suggest that because of your orientation that you were just after me for a quick wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am and you’d be out of there.” “There was nothing ‘quick’ about that.” “That’s what I said to him.” “You didn’t…" Lee tried to keep a straight face, "Remind me not to piss you off. You don’t hold back. But that’s one of the things I love you for.” “I know I shouldn’t ha...you what?” “What?” “You just said that’s one of the things you love me for.” “Yeah, I guess I do.” “Good, because your not giving a damn what people think of who you sleep with is one of the things I love you for.” “Now that we’ve got that settled…” he bent his head down and kissed her like he never had before. “You are so lucky there's all these people around,” Aisling breathed in his ear once they broke apart. “I think we have a date to do something about that tomorrow?” “Promises, promises.” Neither of them noticed that they were being very closely watched.

When the alarm went off at 3:30 Sunday morning, Aisling turned it off, started to get out of bed, and stopped. “Uh-oh…” She could hear that it was raining. The text alert on her phone went off, she picked it up and saw that it was a text from Bill to everyone on the team to go back to bed. It wasn’t going to stop raining for several hours so the last mass ascension was cancelled and there was no point in anyone coming up to the park. She put down the phone and burrowed back in under the covers next to Lee. A couple of minutes later he grunted and stretched, “Don’t we need to get up and get moving?” sounding slightly pissed like he usually did in the morning. “Shhh...no. Listen...it’s raining. We don’t have to go anywhere except back to sleep.” “Yay…” and he rolled over onto his side facing away. Aisling could tell he was almost back asleep. “Or…” as she snaked her hand over his hip and down, “we could get started on the promise you made me yesterday.” He jumped as she made contact. He groaned a little as she got a grip and started sliding up, circling around his swollen head, and then slid back down. She did it a few more times and then increased the speed and squeezing a little harder and was rewarded by hearing his breathing get heavier. “You need to stop, little one,” he rasped, gasping a little. He grabbed her hand to stop her. Aisling took this as a challenge and pulled him over onto his back and straddled him so her back was to his face and he couldn’t see what she was doing. She went back to work, this time paying attention to that groove on the underside. That earned her another groan and a series of curse words came out of Lee’s mouth. She lightly smacked his thigh, “Language…” Suddenly, his hands were on her back wherever he could reach, warm and everywhere. He reached around and tried to grab her hands again. She slapped them away. “Don’t make me pin your hands down.” Aisling continued with her ministrations and Lee behaved himself. It was driving him insane that he couldn’t see what she was doing, could only feel it. For her part, Aisling was enjoying this immensely and decided to take it up another notch, speeding up a little and using a little rotation with it. That got the immediate result of him bucking his hips up. “Down boy,” she laughed. “Easy for you to say.” “Let me see what I can do about that.” She had decided that she had teased him enough. That groove on the underside seemed to get the most response, so she attacked that and from the way his breathing hitched, she could tell he was close. Just a couple more strokes and she felt him pulse and shudder in her hands...and finally got him to scream her name. “Oh...god…” he gasped, trying to catch his breath, “and now we’ve got a mess.” “No, we don’t.” He felt something soft cleaning up what she had caused. “You were planning this.” “Maybe…” “You know, they say revenge is a dish best served cold, but I don’t think I can wait.” With that, he grabbed Aisling by the waist, flipped her on her back, and rolled on top of her. “Your turn,” he said with a smirk. He attacked her mouth and while he was pushing his tongue into her mouth, he was pushing those talented fingers of his into her soft folds, with his thumb planted firmly on her sensitive bundle of nerves. She groaned into his mouth. He broke contact there, but kept going with his fingers. He increased the speed, staring into her eyes the whole time. “Do not close your eyes,” he ordered. Soon enough, she could feel her climax approaching, then, just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, he crooked his fingers and she exploded around him. Suddenly, his mouth was back on hers, effectively silencing that scream that was about to erupt. Slowly, she came back to herself and found Lee staring straight in her eyes. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?” She quirked an eyebrow at him, “No, how much?” Lee laughed, “To the moon and back. How do you do that?” “I love you, too. Do what?” “Raise one eyebrow like that.” “What do you mean? Can’t you?” “Nope. Never have been able to. I’m honestly kind of jealous of people that can.” “Why?” she asked, chuckling a little. “Because it’s so damned expressive!” “I don’t think I can teach you. I think it’s something you can or you can’t do.” She could see in his eyes that he was still very tired. “I think we need and deserve to go back to sleep for a while. We have absolutely nowhere to be or reason to leave this bed today.” “That sounds great.” Lee rolled over onto his back, taking Aisling with him. He was out in seconds, she laid on his chest, letting his heartbeat lull her to sleep.

A few hours later, Aisling woke up. She could hear it was still raining. Lee was spooning her from the back. He was snoring a little, which she found totally adorable. She had asked him when he’d broken his nose. He was surprised she could tell, but it was obvious with it being a little crooked and the trouble he had breathing through that side sometimes. He had fallen through a sliding glass door when he was about 21. Broke his nose and he had a few other scars on the right side of his face from the glass. _“I really should think about getting up,”_ but she was so comfortable and just stayed there listening to the rain and feeling his heartbeat against her back.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

About an hour later, Aisling decided to get up. She slid out from under Lee’s arm and out of bed, he didn’t move a muscle. _“Poor thing, he is just exhausted.”_ A couple of hours later, she had showered and caught up on a few things that always needed done after Fiesta. Like sorting out the laundry. It honestly felt like she had been out of the country for the whole time. Lee was still out and she went to check on him. She laid her hand on his cheek to wake him up and it felt hot. She then ran her hand down his neck to his chest and he was burning up. “Hey, baby boy. You need to wake up.” She got an irritated growl in response. _“Oh, I hate to do this, but I need to get him awake and see what’s going on.”_ She went to the bathroom and got a cool wet washcloth. When she came back, she pulled the duvet back and dropped the washcloth flat on his chest. It was enough of a shock to get him to wake up. “What the hell was that for?” he croaked. At least he was awake. Pissed, but awake. “I’m sorry, but it was the only way to get you to wake up. You’re burning up and your voice…” “I feel like shit and my stomach...” he whined. That, combined with the look on his face...oh, boy. “Come on. Let’s get you a shower at least and see if that helps.” It wasn’t quick, but he got up and started moving that direction. Aisling was watching Lee and he started to look a little green and suddenly he got a deer-in-the-headlights look and pushed past her into the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time. _“I don’t think a shower is going to happen. But, that’s what bathtubs are for.”_ she thought. She grabbed the washcloth, wet it again, and sat down on the floor next to him. He was kneeling, resting his head on his arm that he had across the toilet. She reached up and flushed it. “Here, look at me,” she said while she rubbed the back of his neck. The look of absolute misery on his face just broke her heart. His eyes went wide again, he turned back to the toilet, and started retching once more. She kept her hand on his back, but there was nothing she could do for him. He finally sat back up, and scooted back up against the wall. Aisling scooted over, too, and wiped his face. She couldn’t tell if the tears were just from the throwing up or not, but it didn’t really matter. “OK, how exactly do you feel? Are you aching all over, or…?” “Well, my head hurts now. But it’s mostly my stomach.” “OK, that sounds like a stomach virus. I’m not surprised with all the foreign germs that get drug around here during Fiesta.” Aisling kept wiping his face. He seemed a little cooler now. She got up, stepped over him to the tub and started filling it with cool water. While it was filling, she stripped out of the sweats and t-shirt she had on. When it got full enough she reached her hands out to Lee, “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and cooled off some more.” It wasn’t fast or graceful, but she got him in and settled between her legs leaning back. She could feel how tense he still was. “Relax…” she whispered and started gently massaging his neck and down his shoulders. He leaned his head back on her shoulder and she finally felt him start to relax. She worked back up to his head and slid him down into the water a little more so she could wet his hair. Then she reached over for the shampoo and worked it into his hair. Aisling just kept massaging and lightly scratching his scalp. “Oh my god, that feels good.” he rasped. “Shh...you don’t need to talk. Just relax.” She rinsed the soap out and returned to rubbing his head, his temples, down his neck. All of a sudden, he heaved a big, deep sigh and just completely relaxed. “Feeling better?” she whispered in his ear. “Mmm-hmm… but I’m getting cold.” “Good, that means the fever broke.” She pulled the plug to let the water out. Now she could feel him shivering. They both stood up, she grabbed a bath sheet from the rack and wrapped it around him. Somehow she managed to get them both dried off and got him back to the bed. Aisling got into bed with Lee, intending to stay until he went to sleep. He curled up next to her with his head on her chest, and an arm wrapped around and under her. She put her arms around his neck and head and laid her cheek against the top of his head. Within a few minutes, he had fallen asleep, but when she went to slip out of bed, his grip on her tightened. _“Looks like I’m not going anywhere for awhile.”_ Luckily, her e-reader was in reach. A couple of hours later, Lee shifted and Aisling was able to slip out of the bed. She pulled the duvet back up over him and pulled the door halfway closed.

Later that afternoon, Aisling was sitting on the couch watching a movie when someone knocked on the door. She looked out the peephole, didn’t recognize the person, but they were clearly a messenger of some sort and she could see a manilla envelope in her hands. She opened the door, “Can I help you?” “Yeah, I’m from ABQ Studios. I have a script here for Lee Pace? We were told he was staying at this address.” “He sure is, but he’s not feeling well right now. Can I take it for him?” “I’ve got another name on here I can give it to...and Ass-ling…” “It’s pronounced “Ash-lynn,” she said with a laugh, “That’s me.” “OK, cool. Thanks!” _“Good. This will keep him from trying to do too much until he’s over this bug.”_ She opened the door into the bedroom, Lee was still asleep, but he had rolled onto his back, legs sprawled under the covers. She went and laid the packet down on the corner of the bed for him to see when he woke up.

Somewhere around 8pm, Aisling was on her computer, looking at the pictures that they had all taken during Fiesta. Not surprisingly, Lee had taken a lot. She was sorting them into files day-by-day when she heard the toilet flush. She went to the bedroom just as Lee was coming out of the bathroom. “Are you OK?” She got a good look at his hair and was trying not to laugh. “Yeah, just had to pee. Why are you laughing at a sick man?” “You didn’t look in the mirror, did you? Your hair is a sight to behold.” He turned back around, looked in the mirror, and shrugged. Aisling asked, still smiling, “Did you want anything?” “I’m dying of thirst.” “I’ll get you some ginger ale if you promise not to gulp it. Be right back.” “Wait, I’m not going back to bed. I’m going to come lay out on the couch?” “Why did that sound like a question? Yes, go lie down on the couch. There’s plenty of pillows out there.” While Lee got settled on the couch, Aisling got him some ginger ale and brought it to him and decided he needed one of the blankets on the back of the couch, too. “Now remember, sip it.” She started to go back over to the dining room table and continue working on the pictures. “Are you going to stay all the way over there?” he whined. Aisling suddenly realized she had absolutely no defense against that whine. Better not let him know that. “OK, baby. Let me bring my computer over and I’ll work there.” She noticed he had the packet she’d left on the bed. “That was delivered earlier this afternoon. It’s from ABQ Studios and I’m guessing it’s the first script for ‘Eryn Lasgalen’.” “Oh, great! At least I can see what they’ve got planned for Thranduil.” He opened the packet, “Awesome, there’s a schedule in here, too. Looks like they’re going to start filming some of the prologue stuff on the 28th of October, but don’t need me until Nov 4th and that’s for costume fitting.” “Good. That gives you plenty of time to get over this bug.” “That also means we’ve got Halloween free.”

The rest of the evening was spent trying to watch one of the movies they had attempted to watch in August. About an hour in, Lee was out for the count. Aisling let him sleep and kept working for another hour. She didn’t really want to wake him up, but she didn’t want to leave him out there either. She leaned over, ran her hand over his cheek and neck, whispered in his ear, “C’mon, wake up, darling boy. Let’s go to bed.” “No,” which came out sounding a little like an overtired toddler. Aisling had to stifle a laugh. “Yes, I want you where I can keep an eye on you.” “Then stay out here with me.” He grabbed her hand and tried to pull her down with him. “Normally, I’d love nothing more, but there’s more room in our bed and it’s more comfortable. Let’s go,” and grabbed both of his hands. “Fine…” Lee hauled himself up and shuffled into the bedroom behind Aisling. When they got in there, she pulled the covers back and he basically fell in. She climbed in on the other side, turned out the lights, and pulled the covers up. He scooted closer to her and laid his head on her chest and just curled around her. “I still feel like shit and I hurt all over.” She brushed his hair back and kept stroking it and the side of his face. “I know sweetness. You’ll feel better in the morning. Go back to sleep.” He was out again before she finished what she was saying. She kissed the top of his head and fell asleep herself.

The next morning when Aisling woke up, she realized that while she had turned in her sleep, Lee was still pretty much in the same place. Which meant his face was now buried in her hair at the back of her neck and she could tell he was breathing normally again. She reached her hand around behind her and over his stomach. He felt back to his normal warm. The skin on his abdomen was so soft and smooth...no...there’d be plenty of time for that when he was feeling better. Lee woke up soon after that. He didn’t feel nauseous anymore, but he was still exhausted. Aisling had gotten up, brushed her teeth, and came back to see how he was. “I feel better, but I’m not moving from here.” He even had his normal slightly pissed morning tone back. “Then don’t. There’s no reason for you to get up. I’ll get your computer and Eryn packet for you.” “Don’t you have things to do? I hate to feel like I’m in the way or stopping you.” “Don’t worry, you’re not. I’ve got some errands, but I don’t have to do them all at once. Plus, I still need to do the laundry. I still don’t want to leave you alone for too long. Now, I’m going to go get a shower.”

Over the next couple of days, Lee spent the time pouring over the script and Aisling was in and out doing errands. She kept getting this feeling that she was being watched. It didn’t help that she kept seeing one car over and over. It also started getting harder and harder for her to make sure he didn’t overdo it. He especially wanted to go out on the river again. Five days later, “No, not for a few more days. You need to make sure that you’re 100% over this before your work starts.” Aisling said for what felt like the 100th time. “But the weather is great and honestly, I’m bored,” Lee grumbled. “OK, tomorrow. But I’m going with.” “Wouldn’t have it any other way, babe.” “Maybe I’ll put together something and we can have a picnic down there, too.” “Awesome. We can talk about the script since nobody will be around to overhear or see.”

The next day, Aisling was surprised that she wasn’t greeted with the pissed off tone she’d gotten used to. In fact, Lee was up before her, bouncing around. “I don’t know if this is a good thing or I should be offended that you still sound pissed when you wake up with me,” she teased. He just laughed, picked her up and swung her around. “I love seeing your face in the morning, even if I’m not appropriately appreciative,” he said while planting a big sloppy kiss on her lips before setting her back down and packing something in a backpack. “Whatcha got there?” she tried to reach for the bag to look in. Lee smacked her hands, “It’s a surprise.” “When did you do that? You haven’t gone anywhere for days.” “Remember yesterday when you had to drive across town? I may have gone out.” “OK, you can keep your secrets for now. But I have my ways of making you talk.” “You think so?” “Oh, I know so.”

They headed out around 10am, Lee took the lead. Aisling didn’t know where he was headed, but he said it was somewhere he had found when he went exploring the day after he’d gotten there. She was a little surprised when they headed north along the riverbank instead of south. “How far are we going?” she asked after about 20 minutes. “That’s on a need-to-know basis and right now you don’t need to know. But it’s not far.” The trail he was following widened a bit to allow them to walk side-by-side. He laced his fingers through her much smaller hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss the back. “You’ll love it when you see it.” About another 20 minutes on, Lee pulled her onto what barely qualified as a trail. After about 5 minutes, it widened back out. They came out onto the edge of a sandbar with a few cottonwood trees casting a good amount of shade. There were also some parts of trunks of trees that had fallen long ago that created a few sheltered areas...not that there was anyone else around. All they could hear was the river and the birds and the breeze. “Oh, this is great. It’s always amazed me how you can walk not too far and not be able to hear any civilization,” Aisling said quietly. 

Lee said, “When you suggested making a picnic out of it, I immediately thought of coming here.” Aisling pulled a blanket out of the backpack she was carrying and laid it out on sand close to one of the trees where there was a natural hollow. She started unpacking the fruit and cheese that she had. “OK, what’s this big surprise of yours?” she said to Lee who had his back to her and was busy with the backpack he had again. She walked over to where he was, but he turned again to block her view, “No, not until I get it open. Go sit down on the blanket and close your eyes.” “OK…” “What was he up to?” she wondered, but she did as he said. She had just gotten comfortable, with her eyes closed as requested, when she heard a small pop. “Oh, I know at least one thing he’s got. Wonder what else he’s got over there?” Just as she was wondering what he was doing, she felt her hair being lifted off her neck and a light kiss on the nape of her neck, “OK, open your eyes…” was said softly in her ear. In front of her face was a hand holding a glass of sparkling wine with some raspberries floating in it. “Where did you find raspberries this time of year?” “They’re actually frozen, but they work pretty good if you let them dry out for a little. I’m surprised you didn’t see them sitting in the fridge.” She took the glass and took a sip. “Ooh, you picked out a good one.” “Of course, I don’t drink shit alcohol.” He was sitting on his knees behind her. His large hand came around her throat, tipped her head back so she leaned back on him, and kissed her thoroughly, even though it was upside-down. “Mmmm...that was different,” she murmured. “In a good way, I hope.” “Oh, abso-bloody-lutely.” “Good to know, but that’s not everything. Lie down and close your eyes again, I’ll be right back.” “Now what?”she wondered. She heard him rooting around in the backpack he’d brought. She could tell when he came back, and that he kneeled down. “Tip your head back.” She yelped when she felt something cold and wet run down her throat. “What are you doing?!” she started to sit up. “No, no...stay where you are. See if you can guess what it is. The cold was back, sliding down her neck and even further down. “I’m pretty sure what that is..” How had he managed to pack and keep ice from melting? “OK, let’s try this again.” This time the cold had something hot and wet following in its wake. “Now I know what that is,” Aisling laughed. “Do it again.” “Nah, it’s no fun when you know what it is. Now open your mouth.” She didn’t hesitate and felt something cool and sweet placed on her tongue. Lee said, “See if you can guess what it is…” She bit down, it was sweet and she wasn’t sure at first, but then, “Cantaloupe.” “Right in one.” She felt the wet cold sliding along the top of the tank top she had on, followed by the wet hot again. She shivered. “OK, one more. Open up.” This one was easy, “Chocolate.” “Mm...hmm…” She felt her top being pushed up and started to sit up. “Oh, no, stay there, keep your eyes closed.” She felt the ice tracing along the top of the bra she was wearing. “That turquoise looks hotter than hell on you,” Lee said. She was pretty sure it didn’t really matter what color she was wearing. She felt the ice being drug down between her breasts, then traced back up over the top of the cups. “Oh, good, it’s front clasp again. Makes my job so much easier.” She felt him pop the clasp and push the cups off to the sides. She jerked when she suddenly felt the ice being circled around one of her nipples. Lee made a sound that she could tell he was pleased with himself. Then the ice was circling the other nipple. He returned to the first one, but suddenly, she felt his mouth, hot and wet, on the other one. Sucking and biting gently. “Oh, my gods.” Aisling moaned and started to arch her back. Both the hot and cold disappeared. “Now, now, as you told me, you need to learn to control yourself,” Lee said with mock severity. She made an irritated noise. The cold switched sides as did the hot. She did her level best not to arch again, but she couldn’t help squirming. “Hmm...you might want to stop squirming so much, too.” “Bastard. Just wait until I get my hands on you.” she said with a promise of retribution in her voice. “Minx. Now settle back and let me get back to work.” 

Soon enough, she felt the ice being trailed down her stomach, stopping at her navel, then it was trailed back up. When it started down again, it was followed by Lee’s mouth. He drug the ice along the top of her shorts. Aisling made a sound of pure frustration. “Patience, little one, patience.” He popped the button and slowly traced under it. Then he slid the zipper down and slowly peeled her shorts down her legs. She felt him placing soft butterfly kisses on one calf and then the other. He moved up to the insides of her thighs and continued with the soft kisses. He got closer and closer to where she wanted him, but she jumped with a little yelp with the sudden return of the ice, running along the top of her panties. “Shhh...babe.” “Fucker.” “Such a naughty mouth. Maybe I should do something about that.” Suddenly, his tongue was invading her mouth. She hadn’t even heard him move. “Now I have to start over,” Lee said. The groan of frustration that came out of Aisling’s mouth made Lee laugh. He started again with the ice cube on one nipple while laving and lightly biting the other with his mouth. He slid the ice down to her navel again. But this time, when he followed it with his mouth he didn’t stop there, he slowly, almost reverently removed her panties. Then he went back to the butterfly kisses on her thighs. He pushed her thighs further apart. Just when Aisling thought she was finally going to get his mouth, hand, something, where she wanted it, damn him, he started with the ice again. Circled it around her navel and slid down, but this time, he kept sliding it down. It suddenly hit her hot core and she gasped. Suddenly, it was replaced by Lee’s hot, wet tongue. She couldn’t help the low moan that came out of her. “I think you like that,” she could feel Lee smirking against her. He continued doing that until Aisling was a writhing mess. “What do you want, little one?” “What do you think I want?” “Do you want this?” as he slid his talented fingers into her. “Yessss…” “And this?” his tongue circled the tight bundle of nerves. “Oh, gods, yes!” “If this is what you really want…” “Don’t you dare stop!” She could feel him smile against her, sped up his fingers, he could feel that she was close, he crooked his fingers to hit the place he knew would send her flying. Which she did with a scream as she shattered around him. “You have no idea how hot that looks when you fly apart babe,” she felt him saying against her mouth while kissing her.

Once Aisling had caught her breath, she looked at Lee, “Now you’re going to get it…” “You can try.” “I’m not only going to try, I will succeed. Now I’m going to go find that ice you brought.” She came back with the ice. Lee, still sitting on the blanket, had stripped of his shirt. It wasn’t that hot, but watching her had gotten him a little over-heated. “Good, you’ve done part of the work for me.” She pushed him onto his back and didn’t waste any time stripping his shorts and briefs off him. She straddled him across his hips, just north of where she knew he wanted her. But he wasn’t going to get it for a little bit yet. She picked up an ice cube, “Good thing you brought plenty.” She gave him the same treatment he had given her, but making sure her backside was rubbing against his erection. Ice would not be a good idea there. Soon, his breathing changed, he started heaving in great lungfuls. She got rid of the ice. Then lifted up, scooted back and slowly, slowly lowered herself onto him. “Oh, my god…” from both of them. With that, Lee sat up bringing them chest to chest. Aisling instinctively wrapped her legs around him. He splayed one large hand across her back while he tangled his other hand in her hair and pulled her down to his mouth. “You are driving me crazy.” He growled into her mouth. “That was my goal.” The hand in her hair gently pulled her head back to expose her throat to him. Starting at her breastbone, he licked and sucked his way up to her throat, moving in her the whole time. He reached her neck, bit in the sensitive area where her neck and shoulder met and continued nipping up the side of her neck to her ear, drug his tongue across her throat, and went down the other side, lightly biting again. Suddenly, Aisling could feel Lee losing his concentration on what he was doing with his mouth, just before she felt him go harder and pulse in her with a groan that seemed to come up from his soul. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cradled his head in her neck as he shuddered in her arms. He finally caught his breath and lifted his head. Aisling smoothed his hair back from his face. “So I guess I can’t make you take it easy any more after that performance,” she said. “Nope. Although at the moment, I’m not sure that I’m capable of walking.”

After a few minutes, they separated, cleaned up and put their clothes back on. “Now I’m really hungry,” Lee said. “I’m not surprised. You haven’t really eaten a lot in the last week...and this wasn’t just a little ‘light exercise’,” Aisling pointed out, “Luckily, I brought more than just some fruit and cheese. You weren’t the only one sneaking around.” She pulled out a container she had from a local Texas BBQ place that Lee had already discovered and loved. He moved the blanket so that it was covering the ground in the tree hollow and sat down. “Now bring me my food woman.” “Excuse me, Mr. Caveman?” She walked over and stood in front of him, trying to glare at him, but couldn’t quite stop from smiling. “Oh, yeah? Come here.” He pulled her down and turned her so she was sitting between his legs. Aisling leaned back as he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck just below her ear. “Now open that up. I really am starving.”

When they had finished eating, they just sat there enjoying the quiet and talking about “Eryn Lasgalen”. “When, exactly, is it set?” “After the last battle in Lord of the Rings. Since Tolkien didn’t really say what Thranduil did after the War of the Ring, the writers really have free reign.” “Are they going to bring back Legolas? There’s not much about him after the War of the Ring, either. But it does sound like there was some reconciliation between them.” “I had no idea I was sleeping with a Tolkien nerd,” Lee said laughing, “In the two scripts they sent, there’s no mention of Legolas.” “I’m not a Tolkein nerd, I’m a Legolas’ hot dad nerd.” “That somehow sounds wrong. Next you’re going to accuse me of having a ‘dad bod’.” “I would never do that. If anything, we need to get some weight back on you. Especially if they decide to put that armor on you again. All the stress you had with Matt, our dramatic little stalker friend, and this stomach virus, you have lost too much weight.” “I know, I know. Still have almost 3 weeks before I have to shoot anything and all that is going to be in the palace in Mirkwood. I have been sleeping better.” “When we sleep…”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next day, the producers of “Eryn Lasgalen” called Lee and wanted him to come in for a quick table read of the first script and maybe a quick look at some costumes. “I have to be there at 9am, I shouldn’t be gone too long.” “Go do what you need. I just got a text from a couple friends I haven’t seen in a while and they want to get together for lunch tomorrow.” The next day Aisling met up with her friends at a nice little restaurant that they all loved. _“There’s that damn car again,”_ she thought to herself as she walked in from the parking lot. She steeled herself because she knew she was going to get quizzed immediately. Her friends did not disappoint. “OK, I saw some pictures of you with a guy at that NM Comic thing that looks a lot like the guy from ‘Halt and Catch Fire’,” Celeste said. Aisling answered, “‘That guy’ is Lee Pace and he looks like him because it is him.” “Damn girl, you got lucky! What was he like?” asked Stephanie. “He’s the absolute sweetest person you can imagine.” They asked some more questions about what he was like to work with. Aisling told them what had happened between her and Lee because of all the rumors that had flown around with those stupid pictures. “You...spent the night...with him?” Stephanie gasped. “Yes, but nothing really happened.” Celeste eyed her suspiciously, “Then why are you blushing?” “Well… he did kiss me and we did sleep in the same bed...but that’s all we did.” “Girl...you had a chance at a one night stand and you didn’t grab it...him?” Leave it to Steph to be that blunt. 

“OK, I’ve got something to tell you guys. You have to promise it will go absolutely no further than here. If anything gets out, I’ll know it was you two.” Luckily, there was nobody seated near them to overhear. “You have our word…” “We promise…” Aisling took a deep breath, “He’s back here. He’s been here since the 1st of October. He’s been staying with me and by that, I mean staying with me.” Both Celeste and Stephanie’s jaws dropped and their eyes damn near popped out of their heads. “Seriously?” both said at the same time. “Yeah. You know how Netflix bought ABQ Studios?” They both nodded. “They also got the rights from the Tolkien estate to make a series based around Thranduil after LOTR. They’ve also decided it’s going to be one of their first projects here. It’s at least 10 episodes.” “So when do we get to meet him,” this from Celeste. “Yeah, why didn’t you bring him today?” from Steph. “He had to go out to the studios for a table read on the first script. I was going to call both of you and see about planning a Halloween Party, but you’ll probably get to meet him before that.” “Ooh, a Halloween party. That means costumes…” Celeste was already distracted. “OK, before you get carried away with thoughts of naughty kitty costumes, I do need you guys to be aware of something about Lee.” “OK,” Celeste said, “shoot.” “He’s had a rough time lately. Not long before he came here in August, his boyfriend of 3 years up and walked out on him.” “His boyfriend,” Stephanie said with a puzzled look on her face. “But aren’t you two…?” Aisling nodded. The light all of a sudden dawned for Celeste, “OH! I get it...he’s…” “Yes,” Aisling said, “Neither of you have a problem with that, do you? One of the guys on our balloon team has been nothing but nasty about Lee to me.” “Oh, good grief. As long as he treats you right, we don’t give a damn about that,” Celeste said. Stephanie nodded her agreement. “Good. Now, for the other issue. Those pictures of us in August? Those were courtesy of a stalker he has. She managed to get a photo with him everywhere, and I mean everywhere, but here. It was her way of getting back. She also seems to have shifted her focus from Lee to me. I keep seeing this black BMW.” Steph asked, “How do you know it’s the same car?” “It has Oregon plates. Those kind of stand out around here. I think she’s fixated on me now because I’ve got what she wants. I saw it today when I was coming in from the parking lot.” “Ooh…” from both of them. “Lee doesn’t know it either. I don’t want him to worry about it. So when you do finally meet him, please don’t mention her. She hasn’t done anything. Hopefully she gives up soon.” After that, they started planning what to do for Halloween. They decided on a Dresden Files theme. Which meant pretty much anything goes. Vampires, faeries, wizards, demons. Just about anything.

When Aisling got home, Lee wasn’t there yet. But it was only about 3pm, too. She really wasn’t expecting him until early evening at least, regardless of what he thought. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, she got a text from him...  
_“Babe, I am so so sorry, but I’m not going to be home until late. I mean late, as in don’t wait up for me. They decided to start changing things around in the script and don’t only have ideas for the costumes, but they’re doing fittings already.”_

She could almost hear a little bit of a whine in that text. Poor man…  
_“Baby, it’s OK.”_

His answer came back immediately and he still sounded a little upset…  
_“Are you sure? I mean, I said I’d be back late afternoon and now I have no idea when I’ll get home…”_

Oh...boy…  
_“Yes, I’m sure. It’s part of your job. Do not ever apologize for that. Now go do what you need to do. I’ll see when you get home. I love you.”_

She waited a few minutes. He didn’t answer back, but she wasn’t too surprised. Aisling meant what she’d told him. This was part of his job. She didn’t want him worrying about her being mad at him for not being with her. _“I wonder what I can do to convince him of that.”_ Aisling spent the evening reading and decided to curl up in bed and watch one of those movies they had picked out in August. However, about an hour in, around 11pm, she had fallen asleep. 

About 1 am, Lee finally got home. It was dark, but he could see a soft light coming from the bedroom. It was Aisling’s laptop. She had been watching something, but had fallen asleep and was curled up. He was exhausted from the unexpected long day. He quietly picked up the computer, shut it down, and put it on her desk in the office. He then shed his clothes, climbed into bed, and laid down on his back. Aisling rolled over close to him, put her arm up on his chest so that her hand was over his heart and burrowed her head into his neck. “How did it go?” she said quietly. Lee was surprised that she was awake. “Fine. I just didn’t expect this today. How was lunch with your friends?” “It was great. They’re really excited to meet you and we’re having a Halloween party.” He could tell she wasn’t really awake. “Go back to sleep. Tell me about it in the morning, babe.” “OK…” Her breathing evened out immediately. He wrapped an arm around her and fell asleep to her breathing softly on his neck.

“So, when did you get in and how did everything go yesterday?” Aisling asked Lee the next morning as they were eating breakfast. “About 1am. You asked me that then, I knew you weren’t really awake. Once I got over being annoyed that they didn’t tell me the actual plan, it went great. The changes weren’t really that major, just little continuity things. But you should see what they’ve already got for costuming. They managed to get Pete to turn loose of Thranduil’s armor and swords, so that’s at least familiar. Oh, and that pain in the ass crown.” “So it sounds like they’re really making this more of a sequel.” “Oh, yeah. They’ve got my shooting schedule starting Nov 11th. I’ll need to go back out there a few more times for more costume fittings and scene blocking. Now, tell me more about this Halloween party we’re having.” “How did you know about that? Stephanie, Celeste, and I just decided at lunch yesterday to have one?” “You told me last night. Like I said, you really weren’t awake. You should have heard the other things you said. That you’d call me ‘my King’ and do whatever I wanted…” he teased. Aisling narrowed her eyes at him, “OK, funny boy…just for that, you don’t get to see my costume until the party.” “How am I supposed to decide what to wear then?” “We don’t need to match, but you should go with a steampunk look. That would look really good on you.” 

Later that day, Aisling texted Steph and Celeste to see when they all wanted to get together for planning and decide on food, too. Everyone had Friday evening free so they decided to come over to Aisling and Lee’s for dinner. The next couple of days, Aisling noticed that BMW a few more times. A few times when she and Lee were together, but also on Thursday when he was out at ABQ Studios for some more fittings and some more work on the script. Lee had been surprised that there were really no gossip site pictures of them surfacing because they really weren’t hiding. Aisling told him how chill New Mexico was when it came to celebrities and everyone tended to leave them alone. Even going so far as to actively discourage the paparazzi. There were a few times when he got recognized and stopped by people, but generally they were very polite about it. It was nice for him to just be able to do normal things without being followed everywhere. Even in NYC it happened and made life hard at times. The only other place he’d been able to be left alone was at his farm.

Dinner Friday evening was not going to be anything fancy, just pizza and beer. The closer it got to when Stephanie and Celeste were due to arrive, Aisling could tell that Lee was getting a little nervous. “You don’t need to worry, they’re both cool.” “I know, but you know how it is meeting family and friends.” “It’ll be fine.” She pulled him down for a reassuring kiss about the time there was a knock on the door. Aisling opened up to find both of them had arrived at the same time, that was a first. They had both also brought along their significant others. “Lee, this is Stephanie and her husband Enrique, and this is Celeste and her girlfriend, Rosa.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lee relax. She knew that’s what he’d been worried about. Even though he said he didn’t care, it was clear that sometimes it did bother him. That’s why she hadn’t said anything about Celeste. It was a nice evening, so they were out on the porch. Aisling, with Stephanie’s help, had taken everyone’s plates into the kitchen and was getting some more drinks for everyone. “Aisling, I have to say, I was just the little teeniest bit concerned because of how fast you guys got together, but after seeing how he looks at you...” Aisling blushed a little, “I know. It’s adorable.” “Adorable? Girl, you need to call the fire department.” They took the drinks back out and spent the next couple of hours deciding about the decorations and food and who was going to get what. 

Steph, Ricky, Celeste, Rosa all left around 10pm. Aisling was in the kitchen cleaning up what little there was to clean up when all of a sudden she found herself picked up and thrown over Lee’s shoulder. “What are you doing?” “You called me a caveman the other day. This is what we do,” he said as he smacked her ass. “Oh, and what are you going to do with me Captain Caveman?” “This for starters…” and threw her down on the bed. She watched as he seemed to have a little trouble getting his shorts off, thank goodness he was barefoot already. “Mr. Pace, you appear to be seriously buzzed.” “I may be...is that a problem?” he asked as he crawled towards her on the bed. “Not at all. Let’s see what else you got”. She knew from what he had said before that regardless of his size, he didn’t have a very high tolerance for alcohol. _“Let’s see how far he gets before he passes out because I know he’s going to pass out.”_ He had made it over to her and seemed intent on kissing her everywhere but avoiding kissing her on the mouth. He rolled over onto his back and pulled her up onto his chest. Then he pushed his hands back into her hair and just held her head, looking deep into her eyes, “How did I get so lucky?” He pulled her closer and placed the tenderest kiss on her lips. Then he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head with one and just held her tight. Within a few minutes, she felt his grip loosen and he mumbled something nonsensical. “I knew this wasn’t going anywhere tonight.” Aisling slipped out of his arms and finished what she had been doing in the kitchen. When she came to get in bed for the night, Lee was still sprawled in the middle of the bed. She turned off the light and poked him in the ribs, not enough to wake him up, but enough to get him to move so she had some room. She had hardly laid down when she found herself being pulled up close to his chest with his arms and a leg wrapping around her. She ran her hand over his face and could feel a frown there and smoothed the line between his eyes. _“Wonder what brought this on?”_ she thought. Maybe it was just him being a little bit drunk. But she was pretty sure it was a little deeper and she knew who had caused it. He shifted again, “Love you,” came out as a sigh. She whispered, “Love you, too,” not knowing if he heard her or not, and placed a soft kiss on his lips. 

The next two weeks flew by. Aisling telecommuted for work, but it didn’t require her to be online for eight hours straight. She was able to get plenty done and start decorating for the party. Lee had to go out to the studios a few more times and was usually gone until late. Which gave her plenty of time to get her costume together. She had been serious about Lee not getting to see it until Halloween. He was also being secretive about his costume, too. But he wasn’t as stealthy as he thought, Aisling had seen a few things. All the while, she kept seeing that damn BMW. While she was glad the stalker’s fixation had shifted, she knew it was a matter of time before Lee picked up on it. Gods knew what his reaction would be when he did. For her part, Aisling was almost hoping this chick would do something so she could get rid of her once and for all. She was getting sick of her.

On Halloween, Aisling and Lee were both up early, with Lee being his normal pissed off for the first hour. She still found it highly amusing. Stephanie, Ricky, Celeste, and Rosa got there around 10am to start decorating. By 4pm, all the decorations were up and the food was ready to set out. Steph, Celeste, Rosa, and Aisling were using the bedroom to change, while Lee and Ricky were using the office. “Oh, my gosh, Aisling, I don’t know if you’re going to be safe from Lee in that costume!” Rosa exclaimed. “He better behave or I will punish him later. Then again, he might like that.” 

Everyone emerged from the bedroom and office at about 5:30. There were compliments all around, except from Lee. He just stared at Aisling. She was dressed as a steampunk faerie, but the cream-colored fabric making up the bodice of her costume was so sheer that if there hadn’t been as many layers as there were, she would have been in danger of being arrested for indecent exposure. The multiple layers were held in place by strategically criss-crossing leather straps. Attached to some of the straps in the back were a large pair of black gossamer wings. There was a short black velvet skirt that skimmed the top of her thighs and swept up into a small bustle in the back with fabric draping down to her knees. She was wearing deep purple skin tight leather pants with boots that came up over her knees and had 4-inch stiletto heels. “Lee, close your mouth, you’re going to catch flies,” Steph said laughing at him. “I take it you like it?” Aisling said, turning around so he could see the whole thing, which set the black velvet swinging. She could see him swallow hard and just blink. “Yeah…” “That’s an understatement,” Ricky said, slapping him on the back, “Breathe, dude.” Aisling was just as amazed with Lee’s costume. If she had to name it, it would be a steampunk gunslinger. Dark brown cowboy hat with a pair of goggles instead of the usual hat band. His shirt was obviously black silk and he had about 5 buttons undone. Over that was a blood red waistcoat that looked like it had been custom-made it fit so perfectly. He had dark brown leather studded gauntlets and pauldron, too. Then she got to his pants. Buff-colored and good gods, but they were tight. They’d definitely require her peeling them off later. He had a pair of what she was pretty sure were Tony Lama boots. He had a gun belt slung low on his hips and he also had finger armor on one hand. “Damn, boy, but you make a fine lookin’ gunslinger,” Celeste said in her best western drawl.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Their guests started showing up around 6pm and things were rocking by 7pm. They had also taken over the common area by Aisling’s place and had set up seating and some tables out there. Everyone was having a great time. About 10pm, Aisling saw someone that she didn’t recognize. _“Oh, great. Got someone trying to crash the party. I’d better go deal with them.”_ She got closer and got a good look at the crasher’s face. Dammit! It was her! _“That’s it. I’ve had enough of her. This ends tonight.”_ Aisling walked up quietly behind the stalker, grabbed her by the upper arm and dragged her over to a quiet corner away from the others, whipped her around to face her, and trapped her there. “What is your name?” “D-d-d-debra,” the stalker stammered. She was scared by the look in Aisling’s eyes. “Well, Debra, consider this your one and only warning to clear off. Quit following me, especially quit following Lee. Get your own life.” She leaned in and spoke quietly next to Debra’s ear, while looking at the wall, “If I ever catch you anywhere near Lee again, you will find your hide tanned, framed, and hanging on the wall next to the gummy bear bag.” “Y-y-you can’t threa…” “Was I not clear with what I just said,” venom practically dripping from Aisling’s lips. “Yes, ma’am.” “Good. Now that we understand each other...get the fuck out of here.” She stepped back and Debra fled. Aisling hoped to hell this was the last they’d see of her.

She turned to go back to the party and saw that Lee was standing there. “Who was that?” “That…. Remember you told me about that creepy girl that had started turning up at _all_ of your appearances?” “Yeah…?” “That was her. She’s been hanging around here since you got here, but had been following me mostly.” “What?! You didn’t think to tell me?” “No...why?” “It’s one thing if I get followed, it goes along with the territory. It’s an entirely different thing for my _girlfriend_ to get followed. You didn’t sign up for that! You’re not a public figure!” “I did the second I made the decision for you to move in with me. It’s because I’m not a public figure that I was able to do what I just did.” “Just...don’t ever do that again. Some of these people are nuts.” Lee walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms, “I don’t know what I’d do if someone hurt you because of me.” “She was never really a threat,” Aisling said, hugging him back, “She just needed to have a little ‘come to Jesus’ chat.” “What did you say to her anyway? I could see her face over your shoulder and...I didn’t know someone could get that pale. She was damn near clear!” “Oh, I just told her that if I ever saw her face again, she’d find her hide hanging on the wall next to that framed gummy bear bag of yours.” “Jesus...seriously, remind me not get on your bad side.” She just smiled at him. “That little vicious streak of yours is also an incredible turn-on,” he growled in her ear, “If we weren’t in the middle of a party with all these people, I’d strip those pants off and fuck you until you couldn’t walk.” Aisling looked down, “I can see that. You’re going to have to hold out for another couple of hours.” “Fuck me.” “Oh, I intend to.”

The party finally wound down and the last guest was gone about 12:30am. Steph, Ricky, Celeste, and Rosa stayed for another hour, helping to get things at least corralled in the kitchen to be dealt with much later in the morning...or afternoon. Aisling closed and locked the door, turned out the lights in the kitchen and living room and went through to the bedroom to get changed. Lee was already ahead of her. He had gotten the finger armor, gauntlets, and pauldron off. Aisling stopped him when he started to unbutton his waistcoat, “Stop. All the rest of this is my job. Those pants hide nothing.” She had walked over, stopped in front of him, and palmed him through the pants. He bucked his hips and grunted at the contact. “I have had a hard-on since I saw you take care of our ‘friend’ earlier.” “Let’s see what we can do about that,” she started unbuttoning the waistcoat, slowly. She stripped it off him and then started slowly unbuttoning his shirt as well. “Why are you going so slow?” he ground out. “Because it’s fun getting you all hot and bothered.” “I’ve warned you about playing with fire before, minx.” Aisling rolled her eyes and continued on her mission. By this point, she had his shirt off and was now unfastening the gun belt. She just let that drop on the floor. “Step back,” she pushed him until the back of his legs hit the bed. “Sit down.” Lee obeyed her, expecting her to push him over. But she didn’t. What she did was to start unfasten the skirt of her costume, letting it fall to the floor. 

She started to unfasten the leather straps holding her breasts encased in that sheer fabric. Lee swallowed hard, “No,” he breathed, “that’s my job.” He pushed her hands away and started unstrapping her. He was in a hurry, so it didn’t take him long. But he left the fabric draped on her, cupping her breasts and rubbing his thumbs over her nipples through the fabric. He was rewarded by their immediate hardening and a gasp from Aisling’s mouth. “Oh, you like that? Let me try this.” He pulled her nearer and closed his mouth over the one, running his tongue over the fabric covered peak while continuing to rub the other with his thumb. Her breathing became slightly erratic. He switched sides, paying the same attention to the other peak with his mouth. She started gasping a bit. Suddenly, he stopped. Aisling made a noise of frustration. “Patience. I had to walk around with a hard-on the last two hours because of you. I’m ready for a little payback.” “Bastard.” “I’ve warned you about that mouth of yours before.” He pulled her head down to kiss her deeply while unfastening her pants, but he quickly realized that he was going to have to get rid of her boots first. Dammit. He liked those boots. But he wanted what was under the boots and pants more. “Put your right foot up on the bed,” he ordered. When she had, he slowly unzipped it and slid it off her leg, letting it drop. “Now put the other one up here,” he ordered and did the same with that boot. He pushed her back a step and started slowly peeling those leather pants down. He stopped just past her hips and trailed kisses from her navel down until he got to where she was wanting him most. Instead of using his mouth like she was anticipating, he used his hand to explore, eliciting a quiet moan out of her, “So ready for me already are you?” Another gasp was his answer. “Soon, little one, soon.” He continued peeling the pants down her legs. He had her lift one leg and then the other to get out of them. Lee then pulled Aisling to stand in-between his legs and pulled her flush against him, running his hands up her back and then softly ran his fingertips down, down over her lower back, her rear, and down the backs of her legs while softly rubbing his whiskers across her abdomen. She shivered at the sensation. “I’m really going to miss that when you have to start shaving again.” “Mm-hmm…” was the response she got. Then suddenly, he surged up and ordered, “Get these pants off me...now.” She didn’t need any urging, her hands had already been going for the button and fly. 

It was a good thing Lee’s pants were leather, or Aisling would have ripped them in her haste to peel them off like she had been thinking about doing since she had first seen them on him. She stopped for a moment to admire his erection when she freed it. Lee growled in impatience and she continued down. When she got to his ankles, she smacked one calf and then the other to get them off entirely. She was suddenly hauled back up, off her feet, and found her mouth being invaded by Lee. She wrapped her legs around his waist, expecting him to turn around to the bed. Instead, he started walking towards the bathroom. “What are you doing?” she asked against his mouth. “We both need a shower,” was his response. He set her down, turned on the water, tapped the wall impatiently for the water to get warm. When it had, he picked her up again, stepped into the shower, and immediately pinned her against the wall. She yelped as her backside came in contact with the cold tile. “Sorry,” he muttered against her neck. “It’s fine,” Aisling gasped as his mouth closed on that sensitive junction between her neck and shoulder and started sucking hard, she knew she’d carry that mark tomorrow, and she felt two of those devilishly talented fingers push past her folds. She yanked on his hair, “I need you now,” she said into his ear, licking the sensitive area below his earlobe. That was all the incentive he needed. He removed his hand and she found herself suddenly filled with his shaft. “Ohhhh...god...Lee…” she moaned. He started pounding up into her and she arched her back against the tile. He reached down and rubbed the tight bundle of nerves that was begging for attention. She started breathing heavier, her climax chasing her down. “Let go babe, come for me,” Lee whispered in her ear. That was all she needed and went flying right over the edge with a scream that Lee silenced with his mouth. Within seconds, she felt him follow her off the same edge with a roar of his own that she silenced. He leaned his head against the wall, gulping air in. She could feel him softening inside her and could feel his legs starting to shake. “You need to put me down before you collapse.” He slid out of her and she dropped her feet to the floor of the shower. “That...was incredible,” he said, still gasping, “Maybe I should get a stalker for you to threaten more often.” “No, that would not be a good idea,” she said, while trying to maneuver him around into the shower stream to wash off what she could reach. He then washed her hair. By then the water was starting to run cold. They got out, dried off, and fell, exhausted, into bed. Lee gathered Aisling up into his arms. “Don’t ever try to handle something like a stalker on your own again. Promise me,” he whispered in her ear. “I promise. I just don’t like someone threatening what’s mine,” she said with a jaw cracking yawn. “What’s yours. I like the sound of that. By the way, you’re mine.” Lee wasn’t sure if Aisling heard that and he was out a few seconds later.

The six of them met up for brunch the next day. Aisling told the others that their little “friend” had shown up and that she had a...chat...with her. “Damn, girl. But what did she expect?” Steph said. Celeste could tell from the look Lee gave Aisling that he was not too happy with what she had done. But she returned the look with one of her own, challenging him. Celeste also noticed Aisling kept pulling her hair over one shoulder, obviously trying to hide something. A while later, both Aisling and Celeste headed to the bathroom. When they got in there, Celeste said, “Lee didn’t look too happy about what you did last night.” “No, not really. I could tell that she wasn’t dangerous, just needed someone to call her out and get her to cut it out.” Then Celeste pulled her hair off her shoulder and said, “Aha! I knew you were covering something up. Looks like you two had a little _discussion_ of your own after we left.” Aisling blushed, “You could say that. Lee was still a little pissed at what I had done...and he also really liked my costume.” “Especially those boots. Even I could tell that. Sometimes getting the significant other riled up has some really great benefits.” They then returned to the table and finished their meals and had another couple of drinks. Later at home, Aisling could tell Lee was a little bugged about something. He had sat down in the overstuffed chair in the living room, and was just staring out the window. 

After about 30 minutes, she had had enough. “OK, what?” “What?” “You’re pissed about something.” “OK, yes… The others seemed proud of what you did last night. Don’t any of you realize how dangerous that could have been?” “What did you expect me to do? She was practically in our home and I was sick of her lurking around all the time.” “I know, but what if she’d had a knife or...something?” It suddenly clicked in Aisling’s mind what was really wrong. “You’re not really angry at me, I scared you.” “Yes...you did. I know I said it last night, too, but I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt because someone thought you were in their way.” She walked over to the chair, sat down in his lap, then turned and straddled him, leaning on the back with her hands on either side of his head. She leaned down close, looking into his eyes, “I would never, for one minute, have considered doing that if I had really thought she was dangerous. I could tell from her posts that she wasn’t the physical confrontation type...but I am. Like I said last night, I don’t like when people threaten what’s mine.” Lee had wound his hands up into her hair while she was speaking, “You didn’t hear me then last night when I said you were mine, too.” They stayed like that for a bit, waiting for the other to blink first. Lee caved first and pulled Aisling down, crushing her mouth, his tongue demanding entrance. But instead of granting it like she usually did, she grabbed his jaw, shoved her tongue into his mouth and took control. He was surprised, but then pushed back and they battled for the upper hand for a bit, finally having to break so they could both breathe. “Are we OK now?” she asked, looking into his eyes again. “Yes, just don’t scare me again like that.” “I promise not to scare you again like that,” she said with a mischievous smirk.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next couple of weeks went by with Lee having to be out at the studios more and more. Since Aisling was a telecommuter, she could work from anywhere and would frequently go with him. Watching him work was amazing. It was like there was no acting going on, he just was Thranduil. She had been amazed at the movies to begin with, but to see it in person was astounding. Even when it was just blocking for a scene or when they got into actual scene run-throughs without the costumes. It was like watching Thranduil in modern clothing. The way Lee carried himself altered and he didn’t drop the accent even when stopping to discuss something in a scene. Aisling was just in awe watching.

One day when she hadn’t gone with him, he came home excited as a kid on Christmas Eve. The costume department was finally done. They were going to do the final fittings the next day. Lee didn’t so much ask if Aisling wanted to go the next day, but told her she was going. She thought she detected just the slightest hint of imperiousness there, but just put it down to him being excited. “Wait until you see what they’ve done. Don’t tell anyone, but I think they might be better than the ones from ‘The Hobbit’.” She just shook her head, chuckling at him. He really was like a big kid sometimes.

When they went out to the studios the next morning, Aisling was prepared to set-up where she normally did while they put the costumes on Lee. However, John, the head designer, and Max and Ellen, the assistant and fitter, all wanted her in the fitting room. They wanted someone who hadn’t seen the designs yet to get their reaction. Aisling wasn’t sure that she would be good because she was hardly partial and didn’t think she could look at them critically. “That’s not what we want. We want that first gut reaction,” John said. The first one, her jaw dropped. A plain cream-colored tunic with gold Celtic-looking designs around the edges and the tight black pants looked great. But that wasn’t what got her attention, it was the boots. Golden brown, knee-high, and the designs chasing up the sides. They were organic, but not just plain leaves and vines, but an almost 3D look to it. “Oh, you’re perfect. That’s exactly the reaction we were hoping for.” She couldn’t imagine how that was going to look once they got Thranduil’s blonde hair and the ice blue contacts on Lee. There were some more costumes to look at and tweak. Luckily, they had not only gotten Pete Jackson to ship over Thranduil’s armor, but also the battle cape that went with it. Once the costumes were squared away, they spent the rest of the week in intense rehearsals so that they could start some actual shooting the next Monday. By Friday, everyone was exhausted and the producers told everyone to take the weekend to recover so they could hit the ground running on Monday.

Monday came soon enough. Aisling stayed at home, knowing the first day of shooting was going to be hectic and chaotic enough without her being in the way. Lee didn’t get back until almost 10pm. He dropped heavily on the couch next to her. “Hey, babe. How did everything go?” “Great...but we didn’t get as much done as we wanted. We started working and all of a sudden, here come the writers with 3 pages completely re-written. Of course, nobody knew what they were supposed to be doing and we had to stop and block that out and learn new dialogue.” “You’re kidding. Once they write it, they’re done, but damn, don’t they know what that does to everyone if they change things?” “I know. I don’t get it. Shit...I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed.” He leaned over, ran a hand over her face and kissed her, “I missed you.” “I’ll be in in a bit. You might want to wash your face. Looks like they didn’t get all that pale make-up off.” 

Aisling finished what she was doing and as she was shutting down her computer, she realized that she hadn’t heard the water running in the bathroom or Lee moving around at all. In fact, that sounded like...she padded over to the bedroom door and looked around the corner. The sight that greeted her melted her heart. He had clearly sat down on the side of the bed to take off his shoes as they were both un-tied and kicked off. She guessed he had just laid back for a second to stretch, but he was so exhausted that the second his head hit the bed, he was out. _"Poor baby,_ ” she thought. _"Well, let’s see if I can get him undressed and in bed without waking him up._ ” Aisling pulled his socks off. His pants were already undone, too, but getting them off was going to be an adventure. Getting them down over his hips and ass was going to be the trick. _"Hmm...Let me try something…_ ” She reached under him, just at the top of one hip bone and pushed lightly. She was rewarded with him lifting his hips. She smiled to herself, she doubted he realized that sensitive place was there. Getting his pants off after that was easy, he didn’t stir a bit. Next was his t-shirt. She would have just left it, but he had said before that he found sleeping in one to be uncomfortable. This was pretty easy, too. Aisling went around to the other side and just grabbed the t-shirt by the hem and pretty much just peeled it up and off since his arms were already stretched up. She went back to the other side and lifted his legs up onto the bed, turning him at the same time. _"Now I’ve got to get him under the covers. It’s too cold to let him sleep on top of them._ ” She managed to roll him over enough to pull the duvet out from under him. Then she turned out the light and crawled in next him, laying her hand up over his heart. Just as she was drifting off, Lee suddenly rolled towards her and wrapped both arms around her and tucked her head into his neck. “Love you,” whispered so low that if it hadn’t been so quiet, she wouldn’t have heard it. “Love you too, baby boy,” and gently kissed his throat. 

When the alarm went off the next morning, the classical radio station it was set to was playing a lovely, quiet piece. Aisling smiled. As usual, no matter how she had been lying when she went to sleep, she woke up with Lee spooning her from behind, his face pushed into the back of her neck, arm and leg wrapped around her. Soft breathing feathered past her ear, he wasn’t awake yet. She really didn’t want to get up, she was just too warm and comfortable. Soon, she heard his breathing change and felt a soft kiss on the nape of her neck. She twisted her upper body and ran her hand over his face, “Good morning, my love,” she whispered. An irritated noise and annoyed frown on his face was her answer, she knew he wouldn’t open his eyes for a bit yet. She couldn’t resist trying to smooth out that line between his eyes and running her thumb over those long, thick eyelashes of his. He stretched some, but didn’t turn loose of her. “I just want to stay here, I am so tired,” he mumbled and he sounded it. “I know you do, but you can’t. You have to be back at the studio at 10am and it’s already 8.” A disgruntled groan came from him this time. She laughed softly, “Come on. The sooner you get up and out there, the sooner you can get back here.” “Fuck, fine,” came the normal pissed tone.

Lee wasn’t happy, but Aisling had gotten him out the door about 9am. She had decided to stay home today, do some work and run a few errands so that she could have something ready for him to eat whenever he got in. Barring any rewrites, it shouldn’t be late this evening. She was in the office, working in the queues for a few hours, entering and correcting prescriptions that had been electronically filed. The text alert on her phone went off. She looked at the clock, it was about 2pm. _"Guess they’re finally taking a break._ ” Before she picked up her phone, it pinged three more times. _"What the hell?_ ” She opened up the app and there’s four texts from Lee. _"Uh-oh…_ ” She was expecting him to be ranting on about something else going wrong and that he was going to be late. Turned out she was completely wrong. Nothing had been changed and in fact, things had gone so well, they were already done for the day and he was headed home. Aisling started finishing up what she had been working on and closing out the queues, finishing up just as Lee was coming in the door. “Please tell me you haven’t started making anything for dinner,” he yelled. “Nope, I was just getting ready to,” she said, coming out of the office heading towards the kitchen. “Well, don’t…” as he caught her and planted a kiss on her like he hadn’t seen her in a month. “I am taking you out to dinner and a movie.” “Oh, really? Where are you taking me and what movie?” “Farm & Table and I really want to see ‘Ready or Not’. We don’t have to, it’s a horror movie…” “I’ve seen the trailer for it. It looks nuts, but good.” “Great. Let me go shower and change.” “Need any help?” Aisling asked with a wicked look. “No, because I really want to take you out. Maybe later…”

Dinner at Farm & Table was amazing. Even though the growing season was over, they had no problem creating dishes out of what was still in the fields. The movie didn’t start until 8pm which gave them plenty of time to enjoy a nice relaxing meal. The seats at the theater were big recliners. After the lights went down and the previews started, Lee looked around and was happy to see there weren’t too many other people there and nobody in their row. The recliners were nice and wide, too. Aisling had been getting situated in her seat when suddenly she heard Lee say, “Come here,” and pulled her over the armrest into his recliner along with the fleece jacket she was using as a blanket and tucked her in next to him with an arm around her. “What are you doing?!” she half-whispered, laughing. “You were too far away,” he whispered back. The hand of the arm that was around her came up and lightly circled her throat, bending her head to the side, exposing her neck and softly kissing it. She said quietly, “Behave yourself. I can see the TMZ story now…’Lee Pace caught making out with his girlfriend and kicked out of movie theater’.” “Yeah, but it would be worth it,” he said with a sigh and started to move his hand down. Aisling stopped him, “Leave it.” The movie finally started and while it was good, Aisling noticed Lee almost doze off a couple of times. Her boy needed some sleep.

They got back to the apartment about 11pm. “What time do you have to be back to the studio tomorrow?” Aisling asked. “I don’t. There’s a set that we need that isn’t ready yet, so we can’t do anything. They’re going to do some exterior shots tomorrow that they don’t need me for.” “Good. You’re tired babe. Let’s go get in bed and read for a bit and then just stay in bed all day tomorrow.” “That sounds like a great idea.” Aisling checked her phone before getting the charger to move it to the bedroom. There was a voicemail notification and a text message both from a number that she didn’t recognize. She listened to the voicemail while looking at the text. _"What the hell…? How in the hell did he get my number?_ ” She thought for a minute until Lee yelled, wondering where she was. _"No way in hell am I returning that call. I’m even going to just forget it happened._ ”

“What were you doing? I thought you were just getting the charger?” “I was, there was a voicemail that turned out to be spam, so I was just getting rid of it,” she said as she climbed into bed. She snuggled up next to Lee as he wrapped his arm around her. “So, what are you reading?” he asked Aisling. “It’s ‘Astrophysics for People in a Hurry’ by Neil deGrasse Tyson. What are you reading?” “Oh, I love him. I loved ‘Dune’ so much I decided to read the rest of the series. I’m about halfway through ‘Dune Messiah’.” “So you’ve got a long way to go.” “You’ve read them?” “Yeah, but it’s been a while.” They had been reading for about 45 minutes when Aisling felt Lee’s cheek on the top of her head. She thought he was just resting his head there until his reader slipped out of his hand and she heard a very soft snore. She slowly and carefully plucked up his reader, turned it and hers off, and set them on the nightstand. She had just laid back down when she found herself pulled on top of Lee and wrapped tightly in his arms. 

Aisling woke up to something softly going down her cheek, to her neck, and heading further down. She cracked an eye, “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked in a sleep roughened voice. “Nothing, just amazed at how soft your skin is.” He was propped up on an elbow, looking down at her. “This is a nice change from the cranky giant I usually get in the mornings.” “That’s because I’ve been awake for a while,” he said leaning down and softly kissing her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and finally her mouth. He was surprised when Aisling suddenly nipped his bottom lip. He jumped, “What was that?” “It just looked like it needed it. Carry on with what you were doing.” He blinked at her, shook his head slightly, and went back to kissing her. This time, she granted him access when his tongue swept over her lips. They broke apart to catch their breath, Aisling asking, “What time is it?” “I don’t know. Does it matter?” He captured her lips again while moving over on top of her. He pushed her legs apart and settled there, leaning his weight on his forearms. She wrapped one leg around his back while he ground his hips down. But instead of sliding home, he pushed her leg down from his waist, moved off her, and rolled her so that her back was to him. He lifted her leg and sheathed himself in one fluid motion, both of them moaning a little. Lee pulled Aisling in tight against him, wrapping one arm around her with his hand lightly around her throat and started moving. He was in no hurry, they had all day. He reached the other hand down and found that tight little bundle just above where they were joined. She shuddered when he made contact. “You have no idea how beautiful you are,” he breathed in her ear. She reached up and grabbed the back of his head, “Faster...now…” “Oh, no, we have all the time in the world.” “Fuck me…” “That’s not what I’m doing this time.” She could feel tension coiling low in her pelvis, but dammit he wouldn’t speed up and she didn’t know how to get him to. The tension kept building, she started breathing heavily and pulled on his hair again trying to get him to speed up. “Tell me what you need, sweetheart,” he whispered. “You...faster...now,” she demanded. He finally sped up, his hand moving as well, her breath started hitching. “Turn loose, baby.” That was the last little push she needed to go over the edge, shuddering and contracting around him. That was all it took for him to join her. She felt him go harder and pulse within her. It took a few minutes for the aftershocks to subside and for them to catch their breath. Lee slid out of Aisling, keeping her pulled tightly into his chest. He could feel her shiver a little, he hadn’t realized how chilly it was. He pulled the blanket back up and wrapped an arm around her while stroking her hair, her ear, her jaw. “That...was mind-blowing,” she finally said, sounding a little sleepy. _"Im mel cin, dilthen er_. Go to sleep.” _"Part of that was not English,_ ” Aisling thought. She twisted her upper body around to look at Lee, “What did you just say?” “I love you, little one. Go to sleep.” “That’s not what it sounded like the first time.” There was such a quick flash of something else in his eyes, so fast that she wasn’t sure she saw it. But then Lee distracted her with his lips as they both fell back asleep.

They eventually got out of bed and took a shower. Then spent the rest of the day laying on the couch, watching movies, just taking it easy. They were in the kitchen getting dinner ready when both of their phones went off. Lee’s was a text that, even though it was supposed to be, that set still wasn’t ready and they didn’t need him the next day. Aisling’s was a text from the same number as a couple days ago. _"I know I’m going to have to deal with this, but not until Lee is back working. I don’t want him to hear._ ” “That was the studio honchos telling me I don’t have to go in tomorrow.” “Good, because you need some more rest.” “What was yours?” “Oh, nothing...just another one of those stupid ‘you’ve won a cruise’ scams.” “So what’s on the schedule for tomorrow?” “I’m actually not scheduled to work tomorrow, so I got nothin’.” “So we could go up the Tram tomorrow? That looks so cool up there.” The way his face lit up, there was no way she could say “no”, not that she would have considered it in the first place. “Of course. But remember, it’s already pretty cool down here, it’s going to be downright cold up there.” “I’ll just have to hold on to you to keep warm then,” Lee said as he came behind where Aisling was at the stove, stirring spaghetti sauce, hugged her and ghosted his fingers down her neck making her shiver. “Keep that up and you might wind up wearing this.” After dinner they spent the evening lying in bed, reading.

Some time during the night, Lee woke up and realized that Aisling wasn’t right next to him as usual. He half sat up, wondering where she was, when he saw that she was still in bed. But she was facing away from him and curled in a ball. He laid his hand on her back and she jumped. “Woah, babe. It’s just me. Are you OK?” “I’m fine,” she snapped with a little bit of snarl. He was a little taken aback at her tone and a little confused. “No you’re not. What’s wrong? Did I do something?” She sighed, “No, you didn’t. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’ve got a splitting headache.” She sounded like she was about to cry. “Oh, sweetheart. Come here.” Lee sat up, putting a pillow to lean on between him and the wall, and pulled Aisling over so that she was between his legs and lying back on his chest. He then wound his fingers into her hair and started massaging her scalp. She started to relax and just let him move her head around as he needed. He started down her neck and her shoulders. She flinched in pain when he hit a spot on one side of her neck. “I’m sorry, little one, but your neck and shoulders are so tight.” “Keep doing that. It hurts but it feels good.” A few minutes later, he could feel her relaxing more. Suddenly, she sucked in a lungful of air, and arched her back up off him, stretching. “You have no idea how sexy that is when you do that, do you?” he said. She snorted, “Oh, please, I need to start working out again and lose a few. I also hate to be that cliché, but not tonight darling…” “Oh, shush. I wasn’t even thinking of that.” Aisling snorted again. “OK, maybe I was, but I wasn’t going to do anything about it. I’m not a pig.” He was quiet for a bit, “For the record, I told you that you were perfect the first time we slept together. You are. You shouldn’t think you need to change anything.” His hands had drifted down from her shoulders and lightly brushed down her sides. “Not a damn thing. Just being in the same goddamn room as you is a turn on. It's all I can do sometimes to not rip your clothes off and fuck you senseless,” he whispered in her ear. “I can tell,” Aisling pushed down a little and got a soft grunt out of Lee. “Do that again, and I might just become that pig.” He moved one hand back up into her hair and laid the other one across her upper chest. She pushed it up a bit. “You keep doing that.” “Doing what?” “Moving or keeping my hand up so that it’s on your throat.” “I’ve always liked that. Feels protective to me for some reason.” “Protective? That someone could easily choke you?” “Yes, protective because I trust you and know that you would never do that.” “No, but I will do this…” He tilted her head to the side and found that sensitive place between her neck and shoulder with his mouth. “Gi melin,” Lee whispered. Aisling had just been starting to drift off again, but that got her attention. “What did you just say?” “I love you. It’s not like I’ve never said it to you before.” “Yeah, but it’s normally in English.” “What?” “You did not say that in English.” “Of course I did, what other language would I use? French?” “No...that would be ‘je t’aime’ and you did not say ‘je t’aime’.” “I think the pain from that headache is messing with you. Lean back, relax, go back to sleep.” _"That was a little imperious sounding,_ ” she thought. He returned to massaging her scalp. She let it drop, but she wondered what in the hell was going on. She knew she wasn’t hearing things, but he didn’t seem to be aware of it. Soon, her head started to feel better, his hands were magical here, too, and she dropped off back to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Later that morning, they pulled into the lot at the base of the Sandia Tram and went inside to get tickets. They had about half an hour until the next car would go up. That gave them plenty of time to look around at the grounds at the base. On the way up, the Tram car attendant announced that they were coming up on TWA Canyon. Aisling grabbed Lee’s arm and pulled him over to the side of the car, “Look straight down. OK, right there. See those bits of white?” “Yeah, what is that?” “A plane flew into the side of the mountain in 1955. That’s what’s left of it.” “Seriously?” “Yep, killed all 16 people on board. Never have figured out why either.” “Fuck…” A few minutes later, the car got to the top. They walked around the observation deck, looking at the view down into the valley. “That is one hell of a view,” Lee said, amazement obvious in his voice. They were trying to decide which hiking trail to take, there were several that looped around the Crest, when Aisling noticed Lee looking a little unsteady. She pulled him over to a bench, “Sit down before you fall over,” she said. He was still looking pale and breathing a little shallow. She opened a bottle of water, “Here, drink this.” She crouched down in front of him. “What the hell…?” he gasped. She started laughing at him, “It’s the altitude. You’re at 10,300 feet, babe.” “How come you’re OK?” “Because I live a mile high already, I’m used to it.” He was still looking pale and having trouble catching his breath. “Lean over with your elbows on your knees, it’ll open up your chest and make it easier to breath.” Aisling stepped up on the bench and sat on the ledge behind him with one leg on either side of his hips, and just stroked his back while he caught his breath. After about 10 minutes, he started breathing better. “You still want to take a hike?” Aisling asked him. “Maybe one of the shorter ones.” “OK...and a stroll, too. No running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Then we can have lunch at Ten-3. It just opened a few months ago and I’ve heard it’s really good.”

They settled on a 2 mile loop that also included stopping at the Crest Cabin to take a rest before leisurely making their way back to Ten-3. Aisling got the NM Cuban sandwich with a Fox River, a whisky-based drink. Lee got the green chile cheeseburger, she may have created a monster here, and something called an “Afternoon Delight”. Because of course he would. 10,000 feet, a drink with aquavit, and a 6-foot-5 giant that can’t hold his liquor. _“This could get interesting,_ ” she thought thinking back to the night of the Halloween party planning dinner. Luckily, they were sitting outside and it was a nice day so there was no reason to rush through lunch and by the time they were ready to head back down, Lee seemed to be OK. He got another look at the plane crash again on the way down. “That’s just...unbelievable.” But when they got out to the parking lot, Aisling suddenly found herself pinned up against her car with Lee attacking her neck with his mouth. “What are you doing?” “Just seeing if my girlfriend is as sweet-tasting as she looks.” “We’re out in public where everyone can see.” “You’re right. Let’s get in the back seat.” “No! I still don’t want to be a TMZ headline!” “Fine, but wait until we get home.” There was a mixture of hurt puppy and naughty devil on his face.

Amazingly, Lee behaved himself on the drive back to their place. But that ended the second they stepped in the door. Aisling barely got it shut before Lee had her pinned up against the wall like he’d done the day he’d gotten there. This time however, there was no hesitation on his part. “I’m going to do what I wanted to do that first day,” he said against her lips while grinding his hips into hers. He was already working on the button and fly of her jeans. She didn’t answer, but palmed him through the fabric of his pants. “Don’t,” he breathed in her ear, “or else this party’s going to be over before it gets started.” He’d gotten her pants undone and set her back down on the ground. He yanked her pants down to her ankles, but instead of pulling them off, he stood back up and while his tongue invaded her mouth, his fingers invaded down below. Aisling squirmed, trying to get more friction. But he didn’t stay long. He pulled her pants off the rest of the way and shed his. Then he picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist with her back still up against the wall and found his way to her core and buried himself to the hilt. He stilled for a moment, looking into Aisling’s eyes, seeing the same need and lust reflected back. Then he started moving up into her. She had gotten her hands up under his shirt and ran her nails down his back and bit at the sensitive area on his neck below his ear. She licked the outer shell of his ear and breathed into it, “Make me scream.” That was all the encouragement he needed. He started pounding up into her, his hand moving in-between them to make sure she went first. She started tightening around him, he could tell she was close, “Let go,” he breathed in her ear and that sent her flying, throwing her head back with an almost primal scream. That set off his climax, he still had his face against her neck and bit down, marking her, knowing others would see it. They were both gasping for air. Aisling buried her face in his neck, still shuddering a little. Lee pushed her hair out of the way so he could see her face, “You OK?” he asked quietly. “That...was...I have no words,” she said. Lee slipped out of her, “I need to sit down before I drop you, “ and walked over to the couch. He turned her so she was sitting on his lap. “That’s a first,” he said. “What?” “We still have half our clothes on.” “Well, you were in a bit of a hurry.”

About that time, they could both hear the text alert on Lee’s phone go off, but it took a couple of minutes for them to find it. It was the studio letting them know they were on again for the next day and they needed him by 8am. “Were you going to come with me tomorrow?” He asked Aisling. “No, not tomorrow. I’ve got some work to do and a few errands.” “Hopefully we can get caught back up to where we were expecting to be. Which I guess means I’m going to be out there until late tomorrow night if not into early the next morning.” She could tell that bothered him. “Maybe. But if you are, you are. I keep telling you to never apologize for having to do something that’s part of your job. I can take care of myself.” “I know. It’s more...that...well…” “What, sweetness?” “It’s more that I miss being around you.” “You better. I miss having you around, too.” “Guess that means an early night for me, too.”

The next morning, Aisling got his cranky ass out the door by 7am. It was funny with him being as gentle and even-keeled as he normally was that he was that pissy in the mornings. She couldn't help laughing at him, which made him grumble that she was mean. Around 11:30, she was just finishing up her work for the day and thinking about lunch when her phone went off. She looked at the number. “Well, this is as good a time as any to get into this.” She tapped the answer icon, “What do you want, Matt?” “Finally. I’ve been trying to talk to you for days.” “Did you really think I was going to answer your text or especially answer the phone with Lee right here? After what you did to him?” “You don’t even know me.” “No, I don’t. But I do know how badly you hurt him by doing what you did.” “I was a coward." "That's an understatement. Now what. Do. You. Want?" she bit out. "I want to make sure he was OK. I wanted to maybe talk to him." "You really think that's a good idea? I'm pretty sure he isn't ready to talk to you." "I'm glad he's got you. You know I saw those pictures from August. The way he was looking at you." "Yeah. Those pictures caused some problems." "Let me guess...it was his stalker." "Wait...you know about her?” “Of course. She’s been around for a couple years.” “Yes. It was her. She was trying to get back at him because she couldn't get to him here. But she’s no longer a problem.” “What? Did she finally do something to get arrested?” “No. She actually showed up to a party we had and I set her straight about what I would do if she didn’t go away permanently.” “That worked? She’s been told to back off by his manager, security, me…” “She had actually shifted her focus to me.” “I bet Lee loved that.” “He didn’t know...until he saw us having our little ‘chat’ at the party. But no, he was not happy that she was following me or that I handled her.” “How did you get her to go away?” “I let her know in no uncertain terms what would happen if I ever saw her around me or especially Lee again.” “That worked?” “She could tell I was serious. Anyway, back to why you’re talking to me.” “I was also concerned and wanted to clue you in to something with him.” “OK, shoot.” “I know that there’s a new series built around Thranduil.” “Yep. They’re already shooting.” “Have you noticed anything...different…?” “Like what?” “Like his behavior or that he says things in Sindarin but doesn’t seem to realize it.” “He has said something in Sindarin. When I pointed it out, he denied it. Every now and then he seems a little...imperious.” “Yep, that’s what I’m talking about. Ooh, boy…” “What…?” “This has happened before.” “What has happened before?” “The character is bleeding over into his personality. You’re going to have to snap him out of it occasionally.” “That explains the flash of someone...not him...I saw in his eyes the other day. OK, good to know. Still doesn’t mean that I’m going to tell him you want to talk to him. You want that, you need to contact him. I’m out of that. But let me warn you, you hurt him again…” “Warning taken.” 

The rest of the afternoon, Aisling researched online about other actors that had problems with their characters taking over their personalities. It was actually even called “character bleed”. Sometime around 6pm, Aisling got a text, _“We will not be done until midnight. Do not wait up for me._ ” It was from Lee’s phone, but that was not his syntax. _“OK, but I’ll wait up if I want to. You’re not the boss of me._ ” She went back to the TV show she was watching and getting something to eat for herself. A few minutes later, her phone pinged again. _“I know that? I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to wait up. Love you._ ” Now that was from Lee. Later that evening, she was reading in bed, wondering every now and then who was going to come home tonight. Also wondering when, or if, she should bring up the phone conversation she had earlier. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost midnight. A couple minutes later, she heard the front door unlock and open. “Did I not say not to wait up for me?” he said a little louder than necessary as he set his bag down in the office. That answered that question. “Didn’t I say you weren’t the boss of me?” He walked into the bedroom and flopped face down on the bed. He grumbled something that Aisling couldn’t understand with his face in the pillow. She grabbed his hair and gently pulled his head up, “I couldn’t hear what you said, sweetness.” He glared at her, “I said it was a long day and I’m exhausted. Now quit being mean to me and let me die in peace.” “How about we get at least your shoes off first. Maybe the rest of your clothes and get you under the covers.” “Are you trying to get in my pants? Because I already said I was exhausted.” “No, babe, just thought you’d be more comfortable,” she sighed as she started pulling his shirt off. She stopped suddenly, gasping a little, and pushed his sweats down. There was a huge angry bruise that looked like it covered his whole right hip. It was even black in a few places. “Oh, my gods. What in the hell happened?!” “I fell…” “You fell? Off of what?!” “I’d rather not say. It’s embarrassing.” “You know I’m not going to let it go until you tell me. Babe, this looks bad. Does it hurt much?” “Yes it hurts. Especially since you keep poking at it. I’ll tell you if you promise not to laugh.” “I promise.” He turned his face into the pillow again and mumbled something. “It sounded like you said…” He lifted his head, “I said I fell off the throne. Are you happy?” Aisling couldn’t help it and busted out laughing. “That’s right. Just go ahead and laugh at my pain.” “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. Want me to kiss it better?” she giggled. “You’re lucky I’m too tired to move right now.” “I’ll be right back.” Lee heard her getting something but didn’t really care what at the moment. He kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt off the rest of the way. A couple of minutes later she was back and started pulling his sweats off. “See? You are trying to get in my pants.” “Hush, I just need to be able to see the whole bruise. Guess this is one of those times that going commando was a good choice.” A grumble and pained groan was her answer. She sat down on the bed and scooted over closer to his hip. “I’ve got something that might help.” Her warm hand touched his hip lightly, but it still startled him and he jumped. “Sorry…” “What is that?” “It’s arnica gel. It helps with bruises.” She continued to lightly smooth the gel into his skin. “Come on, get under the covers before you fall asleep. I can’t move you this time with your hip like that.” They got settled in and turned out the lights. Aisling scooted over close to Lee who was still on his stomach. He reached an arm around her, cupped her head, and whispered in her ear, “I am glad you were still awake when I got home, but do not disobey me again when I tell you to not wait up for me.” She stilled for a minute and was going to say something, but his breathing evened out and he relaxed which meant he’d gone to sleep. _“OK, I’m going to have to do something about this. Maybe I need to talk to Matt again…_ ”

The next morning, Lee was his normal pissy morning self, with the added bonus of his hip being sore. He didn’t need to be at the studios until 11am and they were just doing some distance shots nowhere near Thranduil’s throne. Aisling was in the kitchen getting some breakfast and still giggling about it and kind of hoping that maybe someone had a video of it. “I’m going to make you pay for laughing at me,” Lee said as he came in to get something to eat, too. “You’ve got to catch me first and you’re not up to moving very fast.” “You know what they say about revenge. Are you coming with today?” “Nah, I’ve got some work to do.” “We’re not going to be that long today anyway. Probably about 6pm so I should be home by 7pm. Nothing too physical either.” “That’s good. Gives your ass some time to heal,” she started giggling again. “You did offer to kiss it better last night. Is that offer still on the table?” She walked over to stand in front of him, and arched an eyebrow at him, “Did you just tell me to kiss your ass, Mr. Pace?” He just blinked at her and then suddenly reached out, grabbed her by the waist, set her up on the kitchen counter, and moved between her legs. This brought her eye level with him, “What if I did? Would you?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer before crushing his mouth to hers and demanding entrance. She nipped his bottom lip again instead. He pulled back, surprised. “Minx. Let me in, guren vell”, he said while pushing her hair behind her ears and kissing her again. This time she did, even though she was wondering again at the obvious Sindar phrase. She soon forgot about it because of what his hands were busy doing under her shirt. “As much as I’d like to, we don’t have time babe,” she said against his mouth. “They have to wait for me. I am the King of the Woodland Realm.” She pushed back and looked at him, but all she saw was that he was making a joke, which was a relief to her. “I love you. You’re a dork. You need to get your slightly broken ass out of here now.”

Aisling didn’t really want to talk to Matt, but she really didn’t want to text him just in case Lee saw her phone. “So, about the character bleed. What do I do?” “Get him jealous.” “I’ve got an idea...a nightclub called the OP. Gay-owned and operated. It’s where I first got exposed to drag queens, cross-dressers, and trans-people. I’m pretty much a regular there. I could get him to go dancing…” “Him? Dancing? He doesn’t dance.” “He does now.” “How did you manage that? I never could get him to go dancing.” “I figured out why he thought he couldn’t.” “You’re going to have to push his buttons to get Thranduil to take over.” “OP should be the best place to do it. I haven’t been in a long time and everyone is going to want to see me.” “That should work. You’ll notice more and more that his personality is shifting. To really snap him out of it though, you’re going to have to stare him down and ask who you’re talking to.” “I’ve wanted to ask him that a couple of times already.” “But wait until you’re at home to do the stare down. That’s not something that you want to do in public.” “OK, we’re doing this tonight because it’s just getting worse.” “I can’t promise it won’t happen again though. It happened several times with Joe MacMillan. That was...interesting.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent putting her plan into action. First, she texted himself asking about his backside because she couldn’t resist.  
_“Hey, babe. How’s your ass?_ ”

The answer was a few minutes coming, not surprisingly.  
_“It’s fine. Shut up. I’m getting enough grief from these comedians here.“What does your schedule look like for tomorrow?_ "

His response was about 10 minutes later.  
_“It’s going to be a night shoot. So I don’t have to be back here until 5pm. Why?_ ”

She was a little vague with her answer.  
_“When you get home, you need to get cleaned up and changed. We’re going out._ ”

His reply was a little faster.  
_“We are? Do not be vague with me. Where are we going?_ ”

OK, there was a little bit of the personality switch with the lack of contractions in his speech. Even in texting.  
_“We’re going dancing._ ”

His response was almost immediate.  
_“Dancing? I have not danced since I danced with you in August. You will need to remind me._ ”

Imperious now, OK. She answered him with a promise.  
_“Oh, I will. Believe me._ ”


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Aisling was in the bedroom when she heard Lee come in. She knew she was taking a risk of them never getting out of the apartment with what she was wearing, but she had a contingency plan in place in case that happened. She could hear him in the office and walked out into the living room as he was coming out. It wasn’t often that it happened, but he was rendered completely speechless...for about one minute. “Damn…” “Exactly the reaction I was looking for. Now go get cleaned up and changed.” “Or...we could stay in…” “No, you’re taking me dancing. We’re going to the OP. You need to look good because those bitches there will not hesitate to tell you if you don’t.” “Nobody’s going to be looking at me with you around.” Aisling was wearing a blood-red corset with a black sheer shrug, a black micro miniskirt and her boots from Halloween...which Lee was currently staring at. “Oh, please. I won’t even be a blip on the radar there. But yes, before you even ask again, we’re still going.”

Ninety minutes later, they were in the middle of the dance floor at the OP. Lee was getting more and more irritated by other people wanting to dance with her. It wasn’t limited to other men, well men dressed as men, that was. It seemed every drag queen, cross-dresser, and trans in the place wanted to dance with her. He was getting less and less in the mood to share. When they finally got back to dancing with each other, he kept as much physical contact as possible. He pulled her back against him and growled in her ear, “You are dancing with everyone else and are torturing me on purpose. You are most definitely going to pay for it when we get home.” That was not quite Lee’s growl. Maybe it was time to go home and see about fixing his bleed problem. “Maybe we should get out of here then and talk about how I’m going to pay…” Lee didn’t need any more prodding, practically dragged her out of the OP. The drive home was... interesting. She had to remind him she was driving several times... When they got home, he hurried her inside. “Now, about how you were teasing me. You do not do that to your king.” He was standing as close in front of her as he could get without touching her, looking down at her. There was that look that Matt was talking about. It was like Thranduil was standing there in modern clothes. She reached up and pulled his head down until their lips were almost touching and just stared back. 

She finally asked, “Just who in the hell am I talking to?” For a moment, she wasn’t sure it had worked and started to wonder what in the hell she was going to do, then he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, she could tell Thranduil was gone. “What do you mean? Who do you think you’re talking to?” he asked. Aisling blew out that breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and leaned her forehead against Lee’s chest. “You...thank goodness.” “Oh...was I...crap...it happened again. Shit...I’m sorry. I guess I should sleep on the couch tonight...” “Why?” “Because I didn’t tell you this might happen and now you’re pissed at me.” “Yes, you should have told me, but no, I’m not pissed.” “You should be. I should have told you about this…” he started to pull away from her, but she still had hold of his hair and wouldn’t let him. “Like I said earlier, I love you, you’re a dork,” and crushed her lips onto his, taking control for once and demanding entrance. He was a little surprised, but relaxed and allowed her to invade. He pulled back, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight, “I still feel bad for how I’m sure I talked to you.” “Thranduil can definitely be a bit of a dick at times.” “There’s that mouth of yours again.” She looked up at him, “Really? You think you’re going to chastise me for my language?” “Not to mention what you’re wearing, or should I say, not wearing.” She stepped back and turned in a circle, “Oh, you like this? You didn’t say anything earlier.” “You know I love those boots...and you’re wearing a skirt this time.” “What does that have to do with it?” “Because you can leave the boots on this time...they do things to me.” “Oh really? What do they do to you?” “Come here and I’ll show you, minx.”

Instead of going back over to Lee, Aisling walked towards the bedroom, stripping off the shrug and tossing it at him. “I thought your hip was still too sore.” She heard footsteps behind her as the last few words were coming out of her mouth and suddenly found herself swung up in the air. In another few steps, she found herself thrown on the bed. Lee nudged her legs apart and settled himself between them, supporting some of his weight on his arms. He stared into her eyes for a few moments before lowering himself to place the tenderest, softest kiss on her lips, keeping eye contact the whole time. It left her absolutely breathless. He then deepened the kiss, demanding entrance, she didn’t bite this time, just let him in. She felt him searching for a way to open her corset in the front. “It laces up the back,” she said against his mouth. “Does it now?” Suddenly, his weight was gone and he flipped her over and straddled her. Instead of undoing the laces quickly like she expected, Lee decided he needed to take his time. He pressed soft kisses to her spine as he slowly unlaced the corset, exposing the skin. When he finally got it completely undone, he pulled it out from underneath her and tossed it over his shoulder somewhere. “Your skin is so soft,” he said quietly, running his fingers lightly down her spine causing her to shiver. “Now about this strip of material you call a skirt…” discovering that was all she was wearing as he unzipped it. “You seem to have forgotten your underwear.” “That was called ‘Plan D’ if I had needed it.” “Plan D?” “D...as in ‘distraction’.” “You are a distraction all on your own, minx.” He lifted her hips to pull the skirt out, throwing that somewhere behind him over his shoulder as well. She felt him shift and nudge her legs apart so that he was on his knees between them. He slid a hand underneath her hips and suddenly his fingers were invading her, causing her to gasp, while he returned to kissing down her spine. The pressure and friction were almost too much, yet she pushed down trying to get more friction. “Not yet, little one,” he murmured as he pulled his fingers out and turned her over. 

“How is it I’m practically naked, yet you’re way overdressed?” “Would you like to do something about that?” “Yes…” Aisling wasted no time pulling his shirt off, sending it sailing off to join her clothes already scattered on the floor. His belt caused her a bit of a problem in her hurry to undo it, but the button on his pants and the zipper were no match. She pushed his pants and boxer briefs down at the same time. All he had to do was step out of them as he’d kicked his shoes off earlier. She started to unzip her boots, but he stopped her, “No, leave them,” he whispered as he pushed her back down onto the bed. He pulled her closer to the edge so her legs were over the side with her feet on the floor, pushing them further apart. He knelt down looking like a predator stalking his prey. “Close your eyes,” he said and she did, wondering what he was going to do. She felt his lips, butterfly soft on her inner thigh and then on the other thigh. Suddenly his hot tongue swiped up her core, her hips lifted of their own accord. Lee’s big hand pushed back down, “Now, now, patience. This is going to take a while.” She squirmed a little. “Goddamnit.” “I’ve warned you about that mouth of yours. Maybe it’s time to teach you a bit of a lesson” His tongue swiped up her core again, followed by his fingers, but not quite entering her. He teased her for a bit, circling around but never going in. She growled in frustration. Suddenly, he pushed in, “Is this what you want?” “Yessss..” it came out as a hiss. He pulled his fingers out, “I don’t think you’ve quite learned your lesson yet.” He pushed them in again, but didn’t move. Aisling had one hand fisted in the blanket and was squirming even more trying to get some movement. She felt his mouth just above where his fingers were, licking and sucking on her clit. She tried to buck her hips up for more friction, but Lee’s hand splayed across her lower abdomen like it was preventing her. Then his mouth was gone, but he finally started moving his fingers in and out agonizingly slow. “OK...I’ve learned my lesson…” she panted. “I guess you have.” He sped up and his mouth returned, Aisling reached down and fisted her other hand in his hair. Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, he crooked his fingers and hit the spot that sent her into a mind-blowing orgasm. Her back arched up off the bed and screamed Lee’s name. She suddenly found his fingers replaced with his shaft as he buried himself up to the hilt in one movement while he had hooked one leg over his arm. “Do you have any idea how hot that is when your back arches like that?” he said in her ear before bending his head down to suck on the sensitive place on her neck. “I think I have some idea,” she gasped. He started to move, “Fuck, you feel so good.” “Now who’s the potty mouth.” “Shhh...I’m busy.” Soon enough, she could not only feel him getting harder, but felt the familiar coiling down in her pelvis as well. All of a sudden, she was seeing stars and crying out again as she felt Lee pulsing in her with a shuddering groan as well.

They both just collapsed, trying to catch their breath. “I know I’m crushing you. As soon as I can feel my legs again, I’ll move,” Lee gasped, shifting a little to slide out of her. Aisling laughed breathlessly, “You’re fine. It actually feels nice. But I would like to get the boots off...” “Oh, yeah, sorry. I really like these boots.” He sat up, grabbed one leg, pulled the zipper, pulled the boot off and threw it on the floor. Then he did the same with the other. She scooted up to be completely on the bed. He moved back over her, bringing the comforter up to cover them both. He buried his face in her neck and her hair. Pretty soon he mumbled sleepily, “You smell like coconut. I don’t mean that fake smell, but real coconut. Why do you smell like coconut?” She laughed at his babbling, “It’s my leave-in conditioner. We’ve been sleeping together for how long and you’ve just now noticed it?” “Oh, I noticed. Just never thought to ask until now.” “I’m just glad you sound like yourself again. That was a little weird. I was looking at you, but Thranduil was staring out at me.” “Yeah, it’s happened before. I can’t promise it won’t happen again. How did you do it?” “I got you jealous and angry. For some reason, that triggered Thranduil to take over completely. You were bouncing back and forth a lot already. Then, when we got home, I stared you down and demanded to know who I was talking to. For whatever reason, that snapped you out of it.” “Wow. This happened before with Thranduil and with Joe. Matt had to do the same thing with me. Regardless of what he did to me, he’s smart.” “Yeah, he’s smart.” “I don’t need to tell you you’re smart. You know and, more importantly, I know you can run circles around me.” They just laid there quietly for a bit. Lee started to roll to his right side, but jumped and yelped. “I forgot about that. Can we switch sides for tonight?” “Of course, baby. You’re not going to be able to sleep on that side for awhile.” She shifted over to let him roll over to the left. When he got settled, he pulled her closer with her head pillowed on his arm and wrapped the other around her. He kissed her temple, “Love you.” “Love you, too.”

The next morning, Aisling woke up first, wondering who was going to wake up next to her. Lee had somehow turned them both so that he was behind her with his face buried into her hair. She moved her head a little and realized that he wasn’t on her hair and was able to turn onto her back. She ran her hand gently over his face and then stretched, reaching both hands over her head. She felt his big warm hand lightly gliding up over her stomach, coming to rest on her left breast. She turned her head to look at him and realized that he wasn’t awake. After a few minutes, she decided to go ahead and get up and let him sleep as long as he could since he had that night shoot tonight. She went into the office to look at her phone and there was a text from Matt wondering how things had gone the night before. She answered him back that things seemed to be back to normal and glad for the advice he had given her and sat her phone back down on the desk next to Lee’s. Then Aisling went to get a shower and get ready for the day. When she came out of the bathroom, the bed was empty, but she could hear Lee banging around in the kitchen. _“Ooookay...a little extra cranky this morning apparently,_ ” she thought. But when she came into the kitchen, he turned around and instead of just his normal scowl, he was glaring at her and it was obvious that he was pissed about something. “What’s the matter?” she asked him. “Oh, nothing. Not a thing.” “OK, then why does it sound like you’re dismantling the kitchen?” “Well, there is one thing. I was just wondering when my current girlfriend was going to tell me she’s been texting with my _ex-boyfriend_. You know, the one that up and left me while I was out of town?” “Shit. I was going to tell you but…” “But what? What could he possibly have to say to _you_?” “For one thing, he just wanted to know how you were. He saw the pictures of us.” “Yeah, the whole fucking world saw those weeks ago. Next.” “He wants to talk to you.” “He had his chance. He could have stayed but he was a fucking coward and snuck out.” “That’s what I told him. That he was a coward. That he hurt you deeply and that I didn’t think you were ready to talk to him. But that he needed to contact you himself.” “But even so you still thought it was a good idea to keep in contact with him?” “No, I really didn’t want to talk to him again, but he had mentioned the character bleed problem. I had no idea what to do so yes, I called him. Asked him what I should do.” “I wondered how you managed to know how to do exactly what he had done.” “It worked. So what’s your problem?” _“You. Didn’t. Tell. Me._ ” “I was going to, I just hadn’t had a chance. I needed to stop what was going on with you first! How did you even know?” “I went to get my phone while you were in the shower. Yours was sitting on the desk next to it. You had left it unlocked…” “So you decided to read my texts? Wow.” “No, it was still open to the last text messages. You know what…” “No, what?” He just stared at her for a moment, “I’m going for a run. Don’t know how long.”

Two hours later, Lee finally came back. Aisling was in the office working but didn’t turn around at the sound of the door and didn’t say anything. Lee stopped in the doorway to the office, Aisling turned her head. It looked like she was going to say something, but then just turned back to the screen. He dropped his head, sighed, and turned to go into the bathroom and take a shower. When he came out, he could hear her in the kitchen. It was her turn to slam things around and he really didn’t blame her. He hadn’t really given her a chance to tell him about Matt contacting her. She was right, they had to get his head sorted out first. He still felt guilty about not telling her this could happen, but he really thought he had a handle on it this time. He cautiously looked around the corner, halfway expecting something to come sailing at him. But she wasn’t in the kitchen. She had made a sandwich and gone out on the porch with it...and there was one sitting on the counter for him. That was something. He picked it up, went out on the porch, and sat down next to her. When he started to say something, she held up her hand, “No. I really don’t want to talk to you right now.” They sat in silence, eating. Lee moved his leg so that it was touching Aisling’s and she didn’t move hers. That was something, too. A few minutes later, she stood up and took the glass she had back inside. She came back to the doorway, “I’m going out for a while. I’ve got some things to do.” “Will you be back before I leave?” “I don’t know.” “OK, then we can talk in the morning after I get back.” “No, we can’t. Bill called while you were gone. He’s wanting to go fly in the morning and I said I’d be there. I’ll be gone by the time you get back and you’ll be asleep when I get back.” “OK, so wake me up when you get back. We need to talk this out.” “Yes, we do.” He heard her pick up her keys and phone and go out the front door. He sat there for a few minutes, then went and got his phone and texted Aisling, “I still love you.” She didn’t answer right away, he wasn’t sure he expected her to, but about 5 minutes later, there was a text back, “I still love you, too.”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Aisling called Celeste, “Hey, do you have some free time? I need to talk.” “Of course I do, I’m over close to the Pueblo Cultural Center, want to meet me at the cafe there?” “That would be great. I’ll be there in about 15 minutes.” They both got there at about the same time, got a couple of drinks and found a nice spot outside. “Now, what’s going on?” “Lee and I had a fight earlier today.” “About what?” “You know how Lee is filming that series about Thranduil?” “Yeah…?” “Well, Thranduil was bleeding over. There were several times that I was not talking to Lee, but to Thranduil.” “Wow. I’ve heard of that happening to some actors. Did he do something to hurt you?” “No, no. He never would...No, I got some advice on how to snap him out of it. That’s where the problem lies. Who I got the advice from.” “Who?” “From Matt.” “Matt, Matt? As in the guy who walked out on him after 3 years?” “Yeah. He’d been trying to get into contact with me for a few days. Texted and called me. I finally answered while Lee was gone the other day fully intending to tell him to bugger off and to leave me alone. He wanted to talk to Lee and I told him he’d have to contact him himself. Leave me out of it.” “So how did you go from that to getting advice from him?” “He asked me if I had noticed anything...odd. I had, the odd Sindarin phrase, an imperious attitude sometimes. I saw a flash in his eyes one day that was not him. Matt told me what that was, character bleed, and how to snap him out of it.” “I would think that would be a good thing. Did it not work?” “No, it worked...really well. No, what happened is that this morning, Matt texted me asking if what he’d told me to do had worked. I answered him it had and thanked him for the advice. Then I stupidly left my phone open to the texts. Lee saw them and went ballistic. We haven’t really talked since this morning. I was just worried about him and needed to make sure his personality came back.” “Talk to him tonight then. Explain that you were scared. Just like you scared him with Ms. Stalker McStalkerson.” “That’s the problem. He’s leaving around 4pm. They’re doing a night shoot, so he won’t be back until tomorrow morning. Then I’m going out flying tomorrow morning. I’ll be gone before he gets back and he will most likely be asleep by the time I get back.” “So wake him up when you get home. The fact that you haven’t mentioned anything about him leaving says you’ll get over this. I don’t know what to tell you about Matt though.” Aisling had been pushing her phone around on the table, opened the text messages and showed Celeste the text she’d gotten from Lee about an hour ago. “There’s this, too.” “Aww...See? You guys will work it out!” “I did tell Matt how I got rid of the stalker and used the same threat to warn him if he ever did anything again to hurt Lee.” Celeste looked at her phone, “I guess you’re not going to get a chance to talk before he leaves today. It’s already going to be 3:45 and it’s going to take you 30 minutes to get to your place.” “Yeah...damn. At least I’ll have that night shoot to explain why he’s not with me tomorrow morning. I really, really don’t want to hear it from Nathan tomorrow.” “Why? What happened?” “I didn’t tell you about that, did I? Well, he’s got a problem with Lee’s orientation. He was just vicious towards me during Balloon Fiesta. Told me that ‘people like him’ are only looking for a quick fuck and he’d leave me with a broken heart.” “Yeah, I wouldn’t say anything other than he had to work. You don’t need that shit on top of this.” “I guess I better get going. I need to get something for dinner and get to bed early. I don’t know if sleep is going to happen.” They got up to leave. Celeste hugged Aisling out in the parking lot. “You two will be fine. The way he looks at you, it’s going to take more than this little glitch to break you apart.”

The rest of the evening, Aisling tried to watch TV, but she couldn’t really concentrate on anything. She didn’t hear from Lee, but she wasn’t surprised. She knew there was a lot they had to get accomplished tonight because nobody likes night shoots. To her relief, she didn’t hear anything from Matt either. She really didn’t need or want any more drama. She gave up trying to watch anything about 8pm, deciding to go to bed and read for a bit before going to sleep. Not that she thought sleep was actually going to happen. She did doze off around 9pm and surprisingly slept until her alarm went off at 4am. As she was getting ready, she was actually hoping he wouldn’t get back before she left because she couldn’t stay and talk. This was something that wasn’t going to get talked out in a few minutes. She left about 5:30, leaving a note on the pillows on the bed where she was sure Lee would see it.

About 6am, Lee got back to their place. Aisling was gone. He had known he wasn’t going to make it back before she left. He was exhausted and, other than getting his shoes off, didn’t even bother with anything else, opting to just fall onto the bed. He hadn’t turned on the light, but he heard something that sounded like paper on the pillows. He turned on the light and it was a note. _“I’ll be back about noon. I do still love you. We will work this out._ ” He sighed a sigh of relief, grabbed one of the pillows, and realized that it smelled like coconut. He drifted off to sleep, holding onto the pillow like a kid with a teddy bear.

_“I don’t need this...I really don’t need this._ ” Aisling thought to herself when she got to the meeting place. There was Nathan standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face. She sighed, got out, and walked over. “So where’s lover boy? Is he gone already? Didn’t I tell you he’d do nothing but break your heart?” “Oh, shut up, Nathan. Lee didn’t come with me because they were doing an overnight shoot. He’s probably back at our place now sleeping.” “You just wait, it’s not going to last.” She just rolled her eyes and walked over to the rest of the team. Bill said, “Don’t listen to him. He’s just being an ass.” “Yeah, I know, I just don’t want to hear it today,” she sighed. “OK, something’s going on. What is it?” “I’d rather not talk about it,” she looked pointedly towards where Nathan was standing. “Ah, I get it,” he raised his voice, “Come on everyone, let’s make a balloon. I’m taking Aisling with me today.” With that, they got the balloon launched and as Asiling was climbing in, Bill said, “We can talk up there with nobody over hearing.” About 5 minutes later, they were 500 feet up, “So, what’s going on that you don’t want Nathan to know about?” “Lee and I had a fight yesterday morning and we haven’t had a chance to talk since then.” “Oh, honey, is that all? I would have been more worried if y’all hadn’t had a spat by now. _That_ would not be normal.” “I know but…” “But nothing. You haven’t mentioned him moving out, so you’re going to be fine. This is nothing more than a speed bump. All relationships have them. Don’t let Nathan into your head.” “I know, I know. But the fight was about his ex-boyfriend somehow getting my phone number and contacting me. It turns out he had some much needed advice for something that was happening with Lee. He was having a problem with character bleed and Matt, the ex, knew how to handle it. I needed to get Lee sorted out before I could tell him. But he found out before I could tell him and had a meltdown over it.” “Wow. It always gets complicated when an ex shows up.” “Matt wants to talk to him. I told him that if he wants to talk to Lee, he needs to man-up, contact him himself, and leave me alone.” “That’s exactly the right thing. Now, let’s land this girl and get her packed up so you can go home to your man and fix things.”

Aisling got home about noon. She opened the door, it was quiet and the blinds were still closed. She set her stuff down as quietly as possible, took off her boots, and walked to the bedroom. What she saw just melted her heart. There was this giant of a man, clutching a pillow like it was a teddy bear, and wetness on his face. She could also see circles under his eyes, he looked exhausted. She looked at him for a moment and then just crawled up on the bed and softly stroked his face, wiping the tears off, then ran her hand through the hair at his temple. Lee grabbed her hand, but didn’t open his eyes, “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “So am I.” His other hand came up around the back of her neck and pulled her down to kiss her slowly and deeply. When they finally broke apart, she laid down with her head resting on his chest, still stroking his hair. He had an arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. “I know I should have told you about the character bleed. I should have told you what to do if it happened. I shouldn’t have gotten angry about Matt getting your number and bothering you. I shouldn’t have gotten angry at you asking him for help. I shouldn’t have gotten angry at you for not telling me he’d contacted you when you really hadn’t gotten a chance because I went off the rails first. I’m sorry for everything and I understand if you can’t forgive me.” “Sweetness, there’s nothing to forgive. I should have said something when I got that first voicemail. I should have said something when you were not acting like yourself. I only asked him for help because he knew what was happening and could tell me how to handle it. Regardless of what he’s put you through, we both love you.” They were quiet for a bit, then Aisling heard and felt Lee sniffling. She ran her hand over his face, “Oh, baby, stop that.” “I honestly thought you were going to end it. The character bleed alone can be hell to deal with.” “You don’t know how stubborn I can be then if you think that’s going to be enough to scare me off. Face it, you’re stuck with me.” “I know that now. Just let me know if he tries to talk to you again.” “I will, but I told him that if he wants to talk to you, he had to do it himself. I also told him I’d do the same thing to him that I threatened your stalker with if he hurt you again.” “Christ…” “I already told you, I don’t like someone hurting what’s mine. Now, go back to sleep.” “Stay with me.” “Always.”

A couple hours later, Aisling slipped out of Lee’s arms, dropped a soft kiss on his cheek, and left the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind her. He was exhausted, they both were. The last two days had taken a toll on both of them, but especially on Lee. He still wasn’t over Matt doing what he did and was scared she was going to leave him, too. Then all the other shit on top of it. She would honestly love to beat the ever-loving crap out of Matt for hurting Lee like he did. She went into the kitchen to get a cup of tea and then into the office to catch up on some work, plugging in her earphones to listen to some music without waking Lee. A couple of hours went by and she was so engrossed in what she was working on that she wasn’t aware of someone walking up behind her. All of a sudden, there were hands on her shoulders. She jumped and turned around swinging...“Woah...shit! It’s just me!” Lee said as he ducked. “Sorry. I have a tendency to hit first and ask questions later when I get startled. I was expecting you to sleep for longer.” “I woke up and you were gone…” He still looked like a beaten puppy and that just about killed her. “Where would I have gone?” “I...don’t know. Figured you might still be pissed with me.” Aisling walked over and stopped in front of him, looking up, “I already told you, there’s nothing to forgive and I’m not angry. Not with you anyway. You really should go sleep some more.” “I’m not really all that tired anymore.” “How about this. I bring my computer out to the living room. I can work some while we watch a movie.” Soon they were both on the couch, Lee stretched out, leaning against Aisling’s side while she was working on the computer. They were finally watching one of the movies they had tried to watch in August. After about 20 minutes, Aisling shut down her computer and slid it under the couch out of the way. She grabbed a pillow and pulled Lee over to lay his head on it in her lap. She draped an arm across his chest and continued watching the movie. About 10 minutes later, he turned over, “My ass still hurts.” She snorted, “The ever graceful King of the Woodland Realm.” “Shut up.” “I’m sorry, but it really is funny.” “Ha ha. It’s not your ass.” “OK, I’ll stop...for now.” She leaned over and kissed him on the temple and ran her hand down over his hip. “How does it feel, though?” “Just more sore. Doesn’t hurt to move. Just have to be careful sitting and laying down.” “But you’re not on it now.” She was lightly stroking his hair and running her fingers along his scalp. “No. This is really comfortable and that feels really good.” “So don’t move. What time do you have to be there tomorrow?” “I don’t. We got all we wanted last night and there’s still a problem with a set we can’t continue without.” “Good. Gives you a chance to get some rest. We’ve been on a bit of a roller-coaster the last two days.” “Yeah…” She could feel him relaxing and just continued what she was doing. She could tell he was almost asleep, but she didn’t want to get him to move to the bedroom just yet. That could wait until the end of the movie.

Ninety minutes later the movie was over. Lee had grabbed Aisling’s hand at one point and had it folded between both of his which were tucked under his cheek. She hated to do it, but they needed to move to the bed, it would just be more comfortable for both of them. She ran her other hand down his cheek, “Babe...you need to get up and go get in bed.” All she got in return was some nonsensical grumbling. _“This is going to be harder than I thought,_ ” as she tried pulling her hand out. If she could just get him awake enough to steer him into the bedroom…”Stop trying to get away from me,” he mumbled. “I’m not babe, I’m just trying to get you to move to the bed. It’s more comfortable.” “No, thank you. I’m fine here.” “Yeah, but I’m not.” She pulled the pillow out from under his head. That got his attention...sort of. “You’re mean.” “Yeah, yeah, let’s go.” He finally stood up and shuffled into the bedroom after her. She managed to grab the duvet just before he crashed onto the bed...on his right hip. That woke him up fully with a yelp. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. Are you OK?” Aisling said through the hand she had over her mouth trying not to laugh. He just glared at her then turned over on his left side. She climbed into bed and snuggled up behind him, wrapping her arm around him so her hand was over his heart. He wrapped his hand around hers, bringing it up and kissing the palm. “Love you,” he whispered. “Love you, too,” she answered.

Aisling woke up in the morning and during the night Lee had apparently gotten up at some point and moved so that he was behind her as usual when he came back. She turned to look at him. He didn’t look nearly as tired, in fact he looked completely peaceful, which was a relief after the last couple of days. “How long do you plan on staring at me?” he asked softly. “As long as I want to,” as she moved closer so that their noses were almost touching, “What are you going to do about it?” The crease between his eyes appeared as he scowled and cracked an eye. “Why are you so close?” he grumbled. “Because I think it’s funny how cranky you are in the morning and want to see what I can do about it,” she placed a soft kiss on the tip of his nose. He just scrunched it. Then she kissed his cheek, “That might help a little,” he said. She kissed his forehead. “That doesn’t help as much, it’s too far away from where it would really help.” “Oh, is it now? Tell me where you want me to kiss it better?” “How about I show you?” and he crushed his mouth to hers, rolling her onto her back as his tongue swept across her bottom lip asking for entrance. She very willingly let him invade her mouth. His hand wound up into her hair. All the pain and hurt from the last two days evaporated in those few moments. When they finally broke apart, Lee just put his head down into her neck as Aisling wound her arm up around his neck and rubbed the nape of his neck. “I missed you,” he said in her ear. “You missed me? What do you mean? I didn’t go anywhere.” “Not physically, but you weren’t here after we stopped yelling at each other. I missed just having you to talk to.” “I missed you, too.” “Now I need to leave you…” “What?!” “I need to pee.” “Dork.”

Lee got up and pretty soon she heard him start the shower. She laid there for a minute debating with herself, but then made up her mind. She got up, went in the bathroom, opened the shower door and stepped in. “I didn’t think you were going to get up yet.” “Well, you need someone to wash your back,” she said as she picked up the soap off the tray. “You know I’ve managed to wash my back just fine up until now.” “Hey, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Now turn around.” She soaped up her hands and started running them down his back and getting a good look at his hip. “Wow. You really did a good job on your hip, sweetness. How does it feel?” “Not as sore to the touch and your hands feel good.” She rinsed off his back and lathered up her hands again. This time, she ran her hands across his lower back and was rewarded with a shiver. Then she reached her hands around him and grasped his shaft that was already half hard. “What are you doing?” he gasped. “What do you think I’m doing? Or would you prefer me to stop?” “God...no…” She kept stroking up using both hands, one over the other, making sure to pay attention to the groove on the underside. He braced his hands on the side of the shower with his head down. When he started breathing heavier and his legs started shaking a bit, she thought she better put him out of his misery before he collapsed. She switched to one hand and started pumping up and down, circling at the base. Within a couple of minutes, he threw his head back, a growled “Oh...fuck…” came out of his mouth, and she could feel him pulsing in her hand. Lee put his hand over hers and leaned his head against the shower wall, trying to catch his breath, “Shit.” “Are you OK?” Aisling asked. “Fine. Only my girlfriend is trying to kill me,” as he turned around, picked her up and tried to devour her with his mouth. She could feel him shifting and suddenly her back was up against the cold tiles. She yelped. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you warm soon enough,” he said with a wicked gleam in his eyes. She didn’t have long to wonder what he was up to as his fingers suddenly pushed past her folds and straight up into her core. Her eyes widened and she gasped at the sudden invasion. “You didn’t think I was going to let you have all the fun, did you?” he asked as he started fucking her with his fingers. It wasn’t long before she could feel the familiar coiling deep down, then he crooked his finger, and she shattered around him, her back coming off the wall. When she caught her breath, he sat her down on her feet and moved them both under the water to get cleaned up...again.

They spent the early morning just sitting out on the porch with some tea and fruit, even though it was almost too cold to be out there. Lee said, “You know it’s already going to be December in a couple of days,” looking at Aisling. “Yep. We’re not going to be able to do this much longer even in the middle of the day. Seems like it’s dark forever, too.” “It just seems weird that it’s only been 3½ months.” “3½ months?” “Since we met.” “You’re right. Seems like it’s been longer.” “That doesn’t sound good.” “No, I mean it just seems like we’ve known each other longer than that.” “It does. I had thought about cancelling that appearance in August. I’m glad I didn’t.” “I’m glad you didn’t, too.” “Now what are we going to do? It’s still early.” “How about we take a little road trip and go to Santa Fe, or, better yet, take the train. Parking in Santa Fe is a bitch.” “Cool. I’ve never been there.”

An hour later, they had claimed two seats on the top level of the Rail Runner for the hour long trip to Santa Fe. Lee was busy looking out the windows and trying to take it all in. Aisling just shook her head and pulled out her e-reader. She’d been back and forth more times than she could remember and seen all the countryside. The train dropped them off at the depot and it was a short ½ mile walk to the Plaza from there. Normally, it only took about 10 minutes, however, Lee had to stop and look at everything. Aisling, instead of being annoyed, found it adorable. His sheer curiosity about everything was part of what made him so attractive and fun to be with...among other things. 

They spent the rest of the morning in a couple of museums on the Plaza, including the Palace of the Governors. For lunch, Aisling knew the perfect place, La Casa Sena. If they had been there in the summer, they could have sat outside on the patio, but it was a little too cold now. The best place in the winter was one of the small booths near the fireplace, which made for a nice, somewhat private meal. They spent the afternoon wandering around the galleries on the Plaza. Every now and then, Aisling would notice someone obviously staring at them, well, at Lee. But nobody approached them, which was part of what made Santa Fe so great. There were plenty of celebrities that worked there, visited there, even lived there, but the other residents tended to leave them alone. There was an excellent local chocolate shop that was a particular favorite of Aisling’s that she insisted they visit. They got some to take home, but they also had some fantastic gelato. They took that out to sit on a bench on the Plaza in the sun. She leaned up against him, he put his arm around her so she was tucked up under it and she stretched her legs out on the bench. While they were sitting there, they noticed three teen-aged girls close by doing a lot of staring at them and whispering and giggling. “I wonder when one of them is going to get up the balls to come over here,” Aisling said. “You noticed them, too? Here, taste this,” Lee said, holding up a spoonful for her to try. “Oh my gods. What did you get again?” “Ginger chocolate piñon.” “Open…” she said holding up a spoonful of hers, “looks like one of them has finally gotten her courage up.” “Damn, that’s good... pistachios and what else…?” “Green chile pistachio. Here she comes.” She started to sit up but his arm tightened around her, “Where do you think you’re going?” “Sitting up so you can talk to her.” “You don’t need to move for me to do that,” and kissed her hair. They could see the other two “awwww” at each other when he did. “Hi! I hate to bug you, but...you are...Thranduil...aren’t you?” “Depends. Do I owe you money?” Lee said, clearly teasing. Aisling elbowed him, “Stop it…” “Ow! Yes, I am.” “I told my friends, but they didn’t think it was you. I was pretty sure because I heard there’s a new series with him and it’s filming here.” “Yes, we are filming a series.” “I knew it!” she turned around and yelled to her friends, “I was right!...Again, I hate to bug, but could we get an autograph and maybe a picture?” “Of course,” he said. “I can take a picture of all of you if you want,” Aisling said. “That would be awesome.” “OK, give me your phones,” as she stood up. “Why don’t the three of you sit on the bench on either side of Lee?” Once they got themselves situated and quit giggling a little, Aisling took a picture with each of their phones. “Here you go.” “Thank you so much!” “You’re very welcome,” she said as she sat back down next to Lee, who immediately pulled her back to where she had been. “Wait...can we get a picture of you and your friend?” Lee looked down at her, “You OK with that? There’s a good chance it’ll wind up all over the internet.” “Sure. Not like that hasn’t happened before. At least this time we know it’s going to happen.” “That’s true...My girlfriend says it’s OK, so go ahead.”

On the way back down to Albuquerque, Aisling’s phone went off. 

It was Celeste. _“Looks like you two were spotted. I’m guessing from that one picture that you two got everything worked out and are OK again? _”__

She answered, _“Yes, we did and yes we are. I actually took the picture of all of them together. They were all really sweet and cute. I didn’t think any of them were going to get up the courage to come over._ "

____

_“You two are too cute. It’s sickening, honestly._ ” 

____

__Lee was looking at Twitter on his phone while she was texting with Celeste. “Looks like it didn’t take them long to post those pictures we took.” Aisling pulled it up on her phone. “Not surprising. Some of the comments though…There’s this little exchange. ’What do you mean his girlfriend? He’s gay and he lives with his boyfriend in New York’,” she felt him stiffen a bit at that, but relax again, “‘I don’t know what to tell you. He’s the one that called her his girlfriend. I didn’t see Matt anywhere around, either.’ Guess you should have sent out a memo giving a status update of your love life?” “I just don’t get why people care so much.” “Oh, here you go, ‘I don’t like what he’s wearing’.” “What?!” “Just some jealous hags that it’s best to ignore. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re wearing.” “There’s only one person that gets a say in what I’m wearing and I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t hesitate to tell me her opinion,” he said as he pushed some hair behind her ear. “You’d better believe it. On to more pressing questions. What do you want for dinner?” “Hmm...lunch was late and that gelato. I’m not really hungry...well not for food…” he said as he brought the hand he was holding up to kiss the inside of her wrist, “Not to mention we do have that chocolate and as I remember, chocolate melts at body temperature.” “What time do you have to be at the studio tomorrow?” “Not until 11am.” “Good.” The rest of the trip down was spent watching the countryside go by._ _


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

They got back to their place about 6pm and once they got in the door, Lee picked up Aisling and crushed his lips to hers, “Forget the chocolate...I don’t think I’m going to make it to the bedroom.” “Try. I was thinking we both actually need a bath…” “That does sound like a good idea. I’m thinking we need some wine, too? I’ll go find some and some glasses and meet you in there.” She went to look for some candles, too. While he was rummaging around in the kitchen, pulling off his t-shirt along the way, someone started knocking on the door. _“What the hell? Probably selling something. Just ignore them and they’ll go away._ ” But whoever it was didn’t. The knocking turned to banging. “I know you’re both there. I need to talk to you.” _“Nooooo...that couldn’t be,_ ” Lee thought. Aisling came out of the bathroom, pulling on a robe, when the banging started. She looked at him, saying what he’d been thinking, “Is that? No. It couldn’t be…” They just looked at each other, shocked. More banging, “Come on guys...please?” Lee went over to the door and warily opened the door. “What the hell are you doing here?” Aisling had never heard such anger in Lee’s voice before, not even when they had argued. “I just wanted to talk to you, see if you’re OK.” Oh, shit, it is...” she thought as she recognized Matt’s voice. “Really? Are you kidding me? You sneak out while I’m out of town, with no hint that you’re not happy, you harass my girlfriend and cause a huge fight between us, and now you want to talk?” His volume of his voice had gone up considerably and with as powerful as his voice was... “Lee, babe, maybe take the volume down?” Aisling said quietly from behind him. He swung around, “Why? He deserves to be yelled at at the very least!” “I know, but do you really want someone calling the police?” She walked closer and put her hand over the fist he hadn’t realized he’d made and just looked in his eyes. The blaze that she had seen when he turned around went out immediately. “No, we know that would somehow fucking get out. But…” he turned back around to Matt, “I don’t know what you could possibly have to say to me?” “I just want to try to explain…Aisling…?” “Don’t try to drag me into this again. You need to convince Lee to let you in.” She walked into the bedroom and closed the door so she could put some clothes on. 

Lee just stared at Matt for a few moments. “OK, you can come in, but don’t start talking until Aisling gets back out here.” “You both say to leave her out of it, but you want her here when we talk? How is that leaving her out of it?” “You don’t get to make any demands like that. You gave up that right when you snuck out,” he hissed at Matt. Aisling came out wearing sweats and one of Lee’s t-shirts with another one for him to put on. “She’s wearing your clothes already, that’s cozy.” “It’s also none of your business,” Lee snapped as he sat down on the couch, pulling Aisling down next to him, putting his arm around her. He gestured at the chair for Matt to sit in, “OK, you want to explain...go ahead.” He was so tense, she could feel him practically vibrating and placed her hand around his thigh and squeezed gently. He relaxed marginally. Matt saw this, “I’m not sure I want to with her here.” “Well you’re going to have to try. You wanted her to talk to me for you in the first place, what’s the difference?” Any fight that had been in Matt, went out. “You’re right. I was a complete coward.” Lee snorted, Aisling squeezed his leg again. “I just didn’t know what to say. We didn’t get any time together. When we did, we fought the whole time. The only way I could see that we could try to fix it was to spend some time together, but that wasn’t going to happen. I had to be away at fashion events. You were off on location. I couldn’t get time to come see you for the months you were gone and you couldn’t get time to come to the shows.” “So your solution is to just leave instead of talking to me? Yeah, we’d been arguing more, but all couples argue sometimes.” “Yes they do. Then they sort things out and make up,” Aisling said. Lee snorted and squeezed her hip where his hand was lying, “I know we’d developed some habits that annoyed each other because we were apart so much. But don’t you see how it made it worse not saying anything to me that you were that unhappy.” “I didn’t know what to say. You didn’t seem all that upset by our fights, I thought it was me.” “You still should have said something. I don’t know where we’re going to go from here, but maybe you should leave now and we can talk some more tomorrow when we’re over the shock of you showing up.” “Yeah about that…” “What?” “I kind of just got on a plane and came here without any sort of plan…” “Let me guess, you don’t have anywhere to stay?” “No.” Lee looked at Aisling. She shrugged, her look saying it was his decision. “I guess you could crash on the couch tonight.” “OK, I won’t make any noise, you won’t know I’m here. Just do what you were going to do.” “That’s not happening,” Lee and Aisling said in unison.

Aisling had gone into the bedroom to get Matt a blanket. Lee had followed her in there and stayed when she took it out. She came back into the bedroom and closed the door. Lee was just sitting on the side of the bed with his arms on his knees and his head in his hands. She crawled up on the bed behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “You OK?” she whispered in his ear, lightly kissing his jaw. “I...don’t know. I thought I was never going to hear from him again and here he is on our doorstep. It felt almost like he thought I was cheating on him? I don’t know.” “You’re repeating yourself, babe,” she pulled the duvet down, “Come lay down with me,” she pulled on his arm. He finally turned and laid down on his back. Aisling turned off the light and laid down next to him. He rolled over, laid his head on her chest, and wrapped his arm around her. She had one arm around his shoulders and just stroked his hair and cheek with the other. “What does he want? Forgiveness?” he wondered. “I don’t know, sweetness. You can talk to him again in the morning if you want. Or you can wait until you get home tomorrow. Just try to go to sleep or at least rest right now.” "Don’t leave me?” “Never, my love. Do you want me to go with you tomorrow?” “No, we’re just doing table reads and some blocking so it shouldn’t be too late.” “OK...now shhh...sleep…” Eventually, they both went to sleep. 

The next morning, Aisling woke up around 5:30am. Neither of them had moved during the night. She knew they were both going to be stiff, but she was glad that Lee had at least gotten some sleep. She listened to him breathing and also strained her ears, trying to hear anything out in the living room. Lee shifted and groaned a little. She placed her hand on his cheek, stroking with her thumb. He shifted up a little, turning his face into her neck, grumbling something. She felt him softly kissing her neck. “Well, good morning, sunshine,” she said softly. “Those two words should be mutually exclusive,” he mumbled into her neck. He started to nibble on the sensitive place between her neck and shoulder while his hand was starting to worm its way into her sweats. “As much as this would be a great way to wake up, don’t forget we’re not alone.” “I don’t care. It would serve him right to hear us.” His lips worked their way up her neck. She tipped her head back to give him more access. Lee rolled over onto her and hooked both thumbs into the waistband on her sweats and started to pull, she lifted her hips to let him pull them out from under her and off. He got rid of his jeans at the same time, then pulled off his t-shirt and the one that Aisling was wearing. He came back up to kiss her while nudging her legs apart. She wrapped one up around his hip. “I’m sorry little one, but this is going to be hard and quick. I need to be in you now,” as he slammed into her. She gasped at the force as he started moving hard and fast. It wasn’t long before she felt the familiar build up down low. He laced the fingers of one of his hands with hers and raised them above her head while supporting his upper body on his other arm. His eyes bored into hers, she didn’t close them or look away. Then she reached up with her other hand around the back of his head and fisted her hand in his hair and pulled him down, demanding entrance into his mouth. He was slightly surprised but opened willingly. Suddenly, she arched up into him as she shattered around him, her cry silenced by his mouth which pitched him over the edge of his own climax just as silenced by her mouth. Lee couldn’t hold himself up any longer and lowered his weight onto her, mumbling into her neck, “I’m sorry if I’m crushing you, but I can’t move at the moment.” “You’re fine where you are. You don’t need to move.” “You sure?” “Yes, I’m sure,” she punctuated this with a light tug on his hair. “Minx,” he whispered in her ear. After a few minutes, Lee rolled onto his back, pulling Aisling over on top of him at the same time. He held her there with a hand splayed across her back...it still amazed him how small she was compared to him. She was lightly running her fingertips over the notch at the base of his neck. “Now it’s a good morning,” he said quietly. As they both heard a thump from the living room, she looked up at him, “Yes it is. But we still have to deal with the elephant in the living room.” He groaned, “I don’t know what to say to him. I don’t know if I even want to talk to him right now.” “You don’t have to. I can go run interference until you leave.”

Aisling did just that until 10am. When Lee was finally out the door, she decided she needed to have a chat with Matt. “Get something to drink. We’re taking a walk,” she told him. He could tell that wasn’t a polite request. Maybe staying somewhere public was a good idea. Regardless of his size, Lee was gentle, but Aisling...not so much. She scared the crap out of him, to be honest. She was silent for a few minutes, then, “Just what exactly is it that you expect from Lee?” “I just wanted to explain…” “You did that last night. You could have done that over the phone. You could have stayed and done that in August. Why did you come here?” “I guess...maybe...to see if there was still anything there.” “If you think I’m going to let you get in a position to hurt him again, you’ve got another think coming.” “I can see that. I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time. He’s certainly more relaxed than he’s been in a long time.” “He was, until you showed up.” “He certainly sounded _relaxed_ early this morning,” he said, sounding slightly offended. She looked at him like he had two heads, “Like you’ve never heard that before.” “Not like that. Not in a long time.” “Who’s fault is that? Anyway, our sex life is none of your business.” “I still would like to talk to him...alone.” “Only if he wants it. You are to do nothing to push him. Push him and you’ll have me to deal with.” “Wow. You don’t have to be this overprotective of him.” “Don’t I? I’m not the one that disappeared on him.” Matt stopped, sighing, “Fair enough. I’m never going to forgive myself for that.” “Good.”

They went back to the apartment where Aisling proceeded to ignore Matt the rest of the day. She texted Lee…  
_“Hey baby...how you doing? Everything going OK?_ ”

He answered a couple of minutes later.  
_“Fine...it’s nice having something else to concentrate on. Did you...talk to...him? I can’t wait for us to get done, I miss you._ ”

Even though it was a text, she could detect a little whine in there.  
_“Aww...I miss you, too, sweetness. Yes, we talked. He said he wanted to see if there was still anything there. He also wanted to talk to you alone._ ”

He didn’t answer for almost 30 minutes.  
_“Sorry. We were reworking some of the blocking...again. Alone?! Fat chance. No, anything he has to say to me, he can say with you there._ ”

She had been almost 100% positive that would be his response.  
_“By the way, he did hear us this morning and acted all scandalized._ ”

Another long time for an answer…  
_“He deserved it. I gotta go, we’re going for a full non-stop read-through. I’ll be home about 6:30. Love you._ ”

Even if he didn’t see it, she answered.  
_“Love you more. See you then._ ”

Lee walked up to the door of their place at 6:30 and could hear the stereo through the closed door. He walked in and walked straight into the office where Aisling was working. He spun her chair around and grabbed her up into his arms, crushing her into him tightly. “I’m happy to see you, too, but I can’t breath,” she gasped. He loosened his hold on her, “Sorry,” he said as he kissed her soundly. “Where is he?” Lee asked as he set her down on her feet, looking around. “Not here. After our little talk, I guess he didn’t really like my ignoring his ass. Got on his phone, got a rental car dropped off and a hotel room.” “Good. I still don’t know what to say to him. But I’d rather not have him staying here.” “For what it’s worth, I think he really does understand how badly he screwed up. Maybe you could sit down and talk it out and maybe stay friends? You were friends before…” “Maybe...we’ll see.” “Dinner is almost ready. I told him that he could come eat with us.” “I guess I can handle that. I think I’m ready to listen.” “Good. By the way, I made lasagne with a salad, garlic bread, and of course some wine. When do you have to be back tomorrow?” “We’re doing another night shoot, so not until 5pm.” 

Matt got there about 7pm looking like someone had killed his puppy. They sat down and Lee said, “So what did you want to tell me? All I can promise is that I’ll listen.” 3 hours and two bottles of wine later, they were finally all at a place where they felt they could be at least friends. It was still going to take a long time, but it was a start. Matt decided that he was going to stay in town for a while. He wanted to hear more about the Thranduil series and see some of the state, too. But when he got up to drive back to his hotel, Aisling took his keys. “No. You are not driving. You can either call an Uber or crash on the couch again, but I’m not letting you behind the wheel.” “Fine, I’ll stay here.” “Good choice. In fact, there’s still a blanket on the couch. I’ll see you in the morning.” Lee had wandered off into the bedroom. As she turned to follow him, Matt stopped her with a hand on her arm. She turned back around. “You seem to really love him. I’m glad he found you.” “I do and I’m glad he found me, too.” Matt suddenly hugged her...for a little bit longer than she was really comfortable with, but chalked it up to the amount of wine he had drunk. He finally released her, kissing her quickly on the cheek. _“What the hell,_ ” she thought shocked, “Well...OK...yeah...good night…” and retreated quickly to the bedroom.

Aisling closed the door to the bedroom behind her and stood there for a moment, not really sure what to do with what had just happened. Lee was lying on his back on the bed with his eyes closed, “Are you going to come to bed or do I need to come over there and throw you over my shoulder again?” “I’d like to see you try, Mr. Lightweight,” she laughed at him. He propped himself up on his elbows, squinting at her, “I’d be able to if you’d quit moving.” “I’m not. I’m standing still. Do you think you can stand up, though? We need to get your clothes off.” “There you go. All you ever want to do is get my clothes off.” Aisling rolled her eyes. “Yep, and I want to get you in bed, too.” Lee levered himself up off the bed and came over to where she was standing, “You know...that would leave you overdressed.” “Uh-huh…” “We’d need to do something about that, too.” “Go right ahead.” “Come here,” he growled, picked her up, and crushed his lips to hers. He backed up to the bed and fell down so that she was on top of him. “Umm...I hate to point this out, but we’re both still dressed,” Aisling said, stifling her laughter. “Yeah, didn’t think that through.” She pushed off him and stood up, “Come on, sit up.” She pulled his shirt over his head, “You’re gonna have to do your pants yourself.” She walked towards the closet, pulling off her clothes as she went. She pulled on her robe and as she came out of the closet, Lee was staring at her through half-closed eyes. “What?” “How do you expect me to do anything when you start stripping like that?” “Oh, my gods. I wasn’t stripping,” sounding a little exasperated. “Well, that’s what it looked like from here.” She walked over to stand between his legs and put her arms around his neck, “Now, are you going to finish getting undressed?” she asked. “Only if you do something.” “What?” “Kiss me.” She scrunched her face up, “Again? Do I have to? Well, OK…” She leaned her head down and planted the quickest chaste kiss on his lips. “That’s not what I meant,” he grumbled. “Hey, you didn’t specify wh…” “Oh, I’ll show you what I mean,” as he reached around to the back of her head and pulled her down, forcing his way into her mouth...not that she was resisting much. “Well, if you had said that in the first place,” she said when they finally broke apart, “now, about your pants…” She moved out from between his legs and went around to the side of the bed and got in, throwing her robe across the foot of the bed. Lee sighed, stood up, pulled off his pants, threw them in the laundry basket in the closet, and got into bed. Aisling turned out the light and laid back down. He pulled her over next to him, wrapping both his arms around her tightly. His grip loosened and his breathing started to even out. She thought he’d gone to sleep until he said softly, “I didn’t expect to find anyone for a long time, maybe ever, after Matt left.” “Well, I’m not going anywhere. Sleep sweetness.”


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The next morning, Aisling, as usual, was the first to wake up. She slipped out of bed, pulling her robe on, and padded to the bathroom. When she came back, Lee was sprawled in the middle of the bed on his back with an arm thrown over his face, but she could tell he was awake. She went over, grabbed his hand, and pulled his arm up off of his face and was greeted with his normal morning scowl. “Put it back. It’s far too bright in here.” “Babe, it’s barely light outside, the blinds are closed, and the lights are off,” she laughed at him. “But my head hurts. Come back to bed and kiss it better?” he whined. “Move over and give me some room and I will come back.” “There’s plenty of room right here between my legs, baby.” “How can you be cranky, hung over, and trying to get lucky all at the same time? Weirdo.” “Yeah, but you love me.” “You’re lucky I do. Now move.” Aisling shoved lightly at him and got him to sit up, “Here, take this,” handing Lee a glass of water and some aspirin she’d brought back with her. She sat the glass down on the nightstand and crawled up to sit behind him and pull him back to lie on her. She wove her hands up into his hair and massaged his head to help with the pain. “I think maybe someone forgot that he’s a lightweight when it comes to adult beverages,” she whispered in his ear. “Oh, my god, that feels good. You’re right, but I kind of had a reason last night.” “Wonder how he’s feeling this morning?” “Wonder if he remembers what he did last night, too,” she thought to herself. She could feel him relaxing and going back to sleep which was what her goal was. He needed to sleep longer to get through that overnight shoot. About 30 minutes later, she slowly moved her legs out from under him. He rolled over onto his stomach so she slid out of bed and covered him. She grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom to shower, closing the door behind her. It had seemed weird when she first moved in, but now she was glad the bathroom had a door into the bedroom and one into the hall. She quickly showered and did her hair and make-up. Twenty minutes later, she stepped out into the hall, intending to go to the kitchen and get some tea and a bagel. Aisling was stopped short by a sight that she didn’t want to take pity on, but couldn’t help herself. There was Matt, sitting up with his head in his hands, clearly suffering from the same problem as Lee. She shook her head, went into the kitchen, got another glass of water and some more aspirin. “Here, take this,” she said to Matt. He grumbled his thanks. “Come into the kitchen. I’ll get you something to eat.” “Thanks...did Lee leave already?” “No, they’re doing another overnight shoot and I’d like to let him sleep as long as he can.”

A few minutes later in the kitchen, Aisling slid him a cup of tea and a bagel with some cream cheese. “Thanks. I didn’t think I’d drunk that much last night.” “I know Lee is a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, but I think there was a lot of stress that both of you got rid of last night, too.” “Yes, we did. I’m glad we’re going to try being friends. I have missed him.” “He never said much, but I could tell how much it was still on his mind every now and then.” “I’m really sorry for trying to put you in the middle. I just didn’t know what else to do. I know it came out as an insult the other day, but I’m actually glad that you’re so protective of him. I should have been.” “Yes, you should have.” She sighed, “Look, regardless that you shouldn’t have done it the way you did, at the end of the day, we both care about Lee and want him to be happy. I think, even though he hasn’t said it, he does still care about you and wants the same for you. You should try to find that.” He looked down into his mug of tea and they sat silently for a few minutes. “So, what are you planning on doing today?” Aisling asked Matt. “I don’t know, have you got any suggestions? Or you could show me?” “I can recommend some places, but I’ve got work to do and I’d rather be here when Lee wakes up.” “Oh, yeah. Well, I think I’ll go back to my hotel and get cleaned up. Maybe we could all have a late lunch together?” “We’ll see.” Aisling walked Matt to the door, “OK, see you later, maybe?” he said. He started out the door, but turned around suddenly and hugged her tightly, again for a little too long, “I really am glad he’s got you,” he said in her ear, then left quickly. Aisling just stood there wondering what the hell that was for a minute.

Lee finally woke up around noon and came shuffling into the kitchen with his usual charming demeanor. Aisling couldn’t help that she found it funny, which just annoyed him more. “Good morning, or should I say, afternoon, sunshine!” she chirped at him, earning her a scowl while he waited for a cup of tea from the Keurig. “Aww...what’s the matter? That’ll teach you not to drink too much, won’t it?” she said maybe a little louder than necessary. He glared at her again, but she could see some amusement behind it at the same time, “You’re mean. Wait until I get my hands on you.” “Yeah, you gotta catch me first and we both know you don’t move that fast when you first get up.” He reached for her, but she easily dodged out of his grasp. “You’re going to have to be faster than that.” She stepped closer to him again, but he just stood there, acting uninterested, waiting for his tea to brew. When she relaxed and let her attention waver, he snaked his arm out and caught her around the waist, picking her up, and setting her on the counter. She opened her legs so he could stand between them. “Gotcha.” “Now what are you going to do with me?” she asked as she put her arms around his neck. “Oh, there are many things I’d like to do, but unfortunately, we don’t have the time today,” as he moved in to kiss her deeply. “No, we really don’t,” Aisling sighed when they broke apart. “I’ve got some errands to run. Bill called, too. It looks like there’s some bad weather moving in and he’d like to try to get a flight in before it does. When Matt left this morning, he had wondered if we could all have a late lunch together. If you want to…” “I don’t think so, not with having to work tonight.” “OK. Do you want me to let him know or do you want to?” “I’ll do it. Maybe the three of us could do something like a casual pizza-beer-movie thing tomorrow night here? Just a low-key kind of thing.” “Sure, if you want to. Now, as much as I like where you are, you and I need to get moving.”

Aisling left to go run errands not long after that, leaving Lee to get ready for the overnight shoot. He first texted Matt…  
_“I know you had asked Aisling about lunch today. We both have too much to do and I have to work tonight. But would you come have a movie night with us here tomorrow?_ ”

Matt responded a few minutes later…  
_“That sounds good. What time?_ ”

He answered,  
_“How about 6:30? That will give us time to get some sleep._ ”

Matt sounded a little confused in his response.  
_“Us? I know you have an overnight shoot, but why would she be up all night, too? Is she going with you?_ ”

Lee debated for a couple of minutes and then answered,  
_“She’s not, but she will be up and out early, maybe before I get back, working with a hot air balloon. If you want to see it, go here...Puesta del Sol Elementary at 6:30am. There’s a big field behind the school they use. I’m sure she won’t mind. I’ll let her know you might be there._ ”

Matt’s answer came in a few minutes,  
_“That actually does sound interesting. I’ll definitely go._ ”

A couple of hours later, Aisling got back from her errands. Which included getting the ingredients to make a pizza. “You’re actually going to make one?” Lee asked her. “Yeah. I haven’t done one in a long time and figured what the hell.” “So, I let Matt know about tomorrow night and…” he hesitated. “...And what, babe? Did he not want to come?” “No, no...he’s going to come over. But I mentioned both of us need to get some sleep and he asked if you were going with me. I sort of told him why you were going to be out early and said you probably wouldn’t mind if he came to watch you guys in the morning?” He looked a little like he was expecting her to be mad. “That’s cool. Quit looking like I’m going to be pissed.” Lee visibly relaxed and pulled Aisling into his arms. “How did I get so lucky?” “I told him and I’m telling you, we both care about you and want you to be happy. If all of us trying to be friends is part of that, I’ll certainly try. I think he’s trying, too. Now kiss me like you miss me and go finish getting ready for tonight while I get us something to eat.”

The next morning, Lee got in about 5:30am, Aisling didn’t need to leave until 6am. “We might be ships passing in the night, but at least this time we’re speaking to each other,” he said. He was already half asleep watching Aisling sitting on the side of the bed tying her boots. She looked over her shoulder, “You looking at me like that and knowing how cold it is out there is making it damn hard for me to go this morning.” “Well, you don’t have to go…” he said, making a grab for her as she stood up. “Oh, no you don’t. Yes, I do need to go. I said I would and Matt is making the effort to come watch.” “Fine...just don’t expect to be able to put your cold hands and feet all over me when you get back.” “But how else do you expect me to get warm again?” she asked innocently as she walked over to kiss him goodbye. “There are other ways for me to warm you up, minx.” “We’ll see…now get some sleep. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

When Aisling got to the school, Bill was there already. “Hey Bill. I’m glad there’s no one else here yet. I’ve got someone coming out to watch this morning.” “That’s cool. Who is it? Where is that boyfriend of yours and how is he?” “Lee’s fine. They had an overnight shoot, so he’s at home sleeping. No, who’s coming is a little delicate. Remember how I told you about the guy he’d been living with that walked out on him?” “Oh, yeah, and he had started bugging you.” “Well, he showed up at our place a couple of days ago. The two of them got things talked out and are trying to do the friend thing. All three of us are.” “Wow. That’s going to be complicated. Noooo...don’t tell me that’s who’s coming out?!” “Yep. For Lee’s sake, we need to try to be friends, too. The only thing I’m worried about is…” “Oh, yeah...Nathan. As badly as he reacted to Lee…” “Yeah. Here’s Matt,” she said as she saw him drive into the parking lot and waved at him. Behind him was some of the other crew, including Nathan. Aisling went over to talk to Matt, let him know what was going on, and that he was more than welcome to get up close and ask anyone questions. She brought him over to introduce him to Bill and while they were talking, Nathan pulled her aside. Not that she was at all surprised. “So now the boyfriend is here. This is going to end badly for you, I just know it. I keep telling you that people like that can’t make up their minds. They’re going to both take what they want from you and then go on their merry way. You’re just a quick diversion for them.” “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Well, I notice that the other one isn’t here. He get tired of your bed already?” “Nathan, our sex life is none of your goddamn business...but if you really want to know…” “No! I really don’t want to hear the sordid details. But just you wait…” Aisling stalked off from him. The inflation was a little rough. Aisling was on the crown line when a rogue gust pushed the balloon, yanking her hard to the side before she could let go. This caused her to roll on her left ankle, she felt something pop, and then a sharp pain went shooting up her leg. That’s when Bill decided to pull the plug on trying to fly. Everyone else got everything packed up just as heavy clouds that promised snow soon started moving in while Aisling got her boot off before her ankle started swelling and got some ice on it. Bill came over, “Can you make it home alright? You don’t need to go to urgent care?” “Luckily it’s my left foot so I can still drive,” she said through gritted teeth. “OK...make sure that boyfriend of yours takes care of you. Hope you got enough food in just in case,” he said while looking at the sky. “I probably won’t be able to stop him. We’ve already got food. I’m heading home now. The three of us are actually going to have a movie night tonight.” “Then make both of them do all the work. Good luck.” “Thanks, see you later.” She hobbled over to where Matt was, “Sorry you didn’t get to see it actually go up. The weather moved in faster than we thought it would.” “That was...the way it just pulled you… Are you OK?” “Sprained my ankle, but I’m fine. You’re still coming over tonight, yeah? How about you get there at about 5:30 instead of the 6:30 Lee told you, just because of the weather?” “Are you sure? You’re going to need to stay off your foot.” “I think I’ll probably be forced to stay off my foot.” “That’s true. I know how he can get. OK, I’ll see you both then,” he said with a quick peck on her cheek and left. She stood there completely nonplussed for a moment. Then shook her head, limped over to her car and headed home.

Aisling got back to their place about 11am. She came in trying to be quiet, she got her coat off and hobbled into the bedroom. When she turned to go into the closet, she inadvertently put all her weight on her left foot. A loud “Fuck!” came out of her mouth because of the sudden intense pain before she could stop it. She hopped over and dropped heavily on the side of the bed, each hop punctuated with a “Shit!” Naturally, this woke Lee up. “Babe? What’s wrong?” he asked in sleepy confusion. “I got dumped over and sprained my ankle.” That woke him up completely, “You did what?!” “I sprained my ankle.” “That’s what I thought you said. OK, stay where you are. Don’t get up.” She could feel him shifting and getting up. “Yeah, well, I’d like to, but I also want to get all these clothes off. They’re too hot inside.” She pulled off her sweatshirt and t-shirt, leaving just the sports bra. She stood up to unfasten her belt and pants, unfortunately putting weight on her ankle again. “Godammit that hurts!” she growled. Lee had come around the bed in the meantime and tried to push her back down on the bed. “I told you not to get up. Let me help you.” She pushed back at him, “I can get my own damn pants off.” She pushed her jeans down past her hips and dropped back down on the bed. Trying to pull the leg off on the left side proved to be more difficult than she thought and she let loose with another string of curses. “Now will you quit being so damned stubborn and let me help you?” Lee asked as he raised her left leg and gently pulled her jeans off. “Fine, but I was going to put some sweats and a t-shirt on and go back out in the living room and watch some TV.” “Which ones, I’ll bring them to you.” Lee got Aisling the ones she wanted, but when she started to stand up to make her way out to the living room, she found herself swept up in his arms. “You need to stay off that ankle.” “So you’re going to carry me everywhere? How do you expect me to make the pizza we’re having tonight?” “Let me do it.” “Seriously?” “Yes...you do know I’ve managed to feed myself up until now and it’s not like I’ve never made dinner for us before.” “That’s true. OK, take me to the couch, Jeeves, and knock yourself out. Don’t forget that we’re still having movie night, too.” “Are you sure?” “Why not? It’s not as if I need to be on my feet to watch a movie and since you decided to handle dinner...” He deposited her on the couch with the remote, making sure she had a blanket and a drink and wandered off into the kitchen. After about 10 minutes of listening to Lee rooting around in there, Aisling heard an “Aha!” He came to the doorway and asked, “How tied are you to having pizza tonight?” She looked up and he was rubbing the back of his neck. The way his t-shirt pulled up with his sweats riding low on his hips completely distracted her from what he’d asked. “Babe?” She shook her head, “Sorry. Not set in stone. Why?” “Because I was thinking, we’ve got all the vegetables we need and I just found some steak in the freezer, why don’t I make beef stir-fry and some rice to go with it instead?” “Whatever you want to do, sweetness, is fine with me.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Aisling stayed parked on the couch. Lee wouldn’t even let her go get her computer. She balked though when he tried to carry her to the bathroom. “You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten hurt. I can manage. I can make it back to the couch on my own.” She slapped him away when he tried to pick her up again. She limped her way to the couch. He huffed exasperatedly after her, “But you don’t have to. I told you earlier to quit being so stubborn.” He started to go back to the kitchen, she grabbed his hand and pulled, “Where are you going? Come sit with me.” “I thought I was making dinner…?” “But it’s boring by myself. It’s stir-fry, it won’t take you that long,” she pouted at him and pulled on his hand a little harder. “Fine…” He sat down and Aisling, who was propped up against the arm of the couch, immediately put her legs across his lap. Lee looked at her ankle, gently examining it, “You really did a number on your ankle, babe. This looks horrible.” “I’m aware every time I try to move it.” Lee was still holding her hand. She pulled him towards her with it, “It’s only my ankle that I hurt. The rest of me is just fine and feeling a little neglected.” “Oh yeah? Well, let me do something about that,” as he leaned over, reached a hand around the back of her neck, and pulled her in for a long, slow kiss. “Is that better?” She went up on her knees, and swung her left leg over to straddle him. Aisling said, “A little...but there’s some other areas that are feeling neglected, too,” as she ground her hips down, getting a soft grunt out of Lee. “I think you’ve got some neglected areas, too,” she said as she brushed her lips across his. “You may be right,” he said as he captured her mouth, his hand going to the small of her back, pushing her down, while his hips lifted to meet hers. Soon he grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it off over her head, discovering that she wasn’t wearing anything under it. Aisling’s hands hadn’t been idle, either and had been working Lee’s shirt up. When he pulled hers off, she took advantage and pulled his off, tossing it somewhere behind her. His hands went immediately to her back again, pulling her back down flush against him, crushing his mouth to hers. Her arms went around his neck and fisted her hands in his hair. Then she pulled, tipping his head back and traced a line with her tongue from the notch in his collarbone to his chin and was rewarded with a groan and a shudder. Meanwhile, one of his hands had found its way under the waistband of her sweats and Lee discovered a bra wasn’t the only item of underwear she wasn’t wearing, wondering, very briefly, when she had managed that when he was helping her get changed earlier. “You are not playing fair, minx,” he groaned. “Who said I was playing?” Aisling said as she sucked hard at the skin over the veins that were standing out on his neck. That was going to leave a mark. Between what they were doing to each other and the friction of their skin, they were both losing control. Lee growled suddenly and pushed forward sliding them both off the couch and onto the floor, still being careful of her ankle. Just as he was starting to push her sweats down...there was a knock at the door.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Neither of them had noticed the time, but now they looked and saw it was 5:30 on the dot. They both groaned, panting for a moment, foreheads together. There was another knock. “I forgot how goddamn punctual he is,” Lee growled. “Guess we better let him in,” Aisling said, trying to get up. Lee stood up, leaned over, and picked her up to set her back on the couch. “Guess we should put our shirts back on, too,” he said, picking his up and handing her the one she’d been wearing. Then he opened the door. “Hi…” Matt started to say something else but then got a good look at Lee and then looked at Aisling, “OK...yeah…” with a smirk. “What? I was just moving Aisling back to the couch.” “Uh-huh. So wearing your shirt inside-out and backwards is a fashion statement then? Not to mention what your neck looks like,” he said to Lee, pointing at the tag, as he stepped inside bringing a swirl of snow with him. “When did it start snowing?” Aisling asked, grateful for a change of subject while Lee turned red and fixed his shirt. “About an hour ago...but I’m not surprised you two didn’t notice.” She hopped over to the window and looked out. “Wow. It’s really coming down and those are big fat flakes, too.” “Well, it’s out there and we’re in here. Now quit making me chase you down,” she heard Lee say from behind her as he picked her up and placed her back on the couch. “Yeah, you just stay there. We’ll manage dinner,” she heard Matt yell from the kitchen. “Hmm...being waited on by two handsome men? I think I could get used to this.” “Then stay here and let us do it,” Lee said as he put a blanket over her and kissed her.

About a half hour later, dinner was ready. Aisling was just trying to figure out how she was going to get to the table when Lee came out of the kitchen and saw what she was doing. “Oh, no you don’t. Stay there.” “How am I supposed to get anything to eat then?” “It’s a one bowl dish. I’ll bring you one and we’re all going to eat in here. Pick out a movie.” “Anything I want?” “Anything.” About 10 minutes later she was staring at both of them, in disbelief of what she’d heard. “I cannot believe neither one of you have ever seen Harry Potter!” About that time, the weather alerts on all of their phones went off. The storm was getting worse. The airport was being shut down, the interstates were closed, and the police department was basically ordering people to stay off the roads. Which was fine with Aisling. “Looks like we have plenty of time to watch the whole series and the first two of the Fantastic Beasts prequels.” They watched the first one while eating dinner and by the time it was halfway through, Matt and Lee were hooked. After it was over, they cleaned up the dishes and decided they needed popcorn and drinks. Soon they were watching the second one. Lee was propped up against the arm on one end of the couch with Aisling between his legs, leaning back on him with a pillow under her foot and a blanket over her. Matt had made himself comfortable down on the other end of the couch. Near the end, Aisling noticed that Matt had put his feet under the blanket that was covering hers, but didn’t think anything of it. Suddenly though, she felt his foot running up her leg. She couldn’t tell if Lee noticed or not, but she nailed Matt with a “what are you doing?” look and he pulled back. By the end of it, the boys had questions that she wouldn’t answer except to start the third one. 

About an hour in, Lee pulled the blanket up to cover both of them. At first she just thought he had just gotten a little cold but then felt one of his hands go up under her shirt to cup one of her breasts, his thumb grazing across her nipple. Then she felt his other hand slide under the waistband of her sweats, his fingers quickly finding what they were seeking. She inhaled sharply which got Matt’s attention. “You know you’re not as stealthy as you think you are. The lights might be off, but I can still hear you,” he said, laughing a little. Aisling was glad the lights were off because she was sure her face was flaming red. Lee moved the one hand out of her pants and took the other from under her shirt, bringing it up to lightly circle her throat. He behaved himself for the rest of the movie even though she could feel him hard in the middle of her back. Both Matt and Lee were also making wild speculations up until the end that had Aisling laughing her ass off at them. Since none of them were really tired and they couldn’t go anywhere, they decided to move on to the fourth film. 

About 10 minutes in, everything suddenly went black. They sat there in silence for a few minutes to see if it was going to come back. Matt used the flashlight on his phone to get up and go look out the windows. “Looks like it’s out everywhere. It’s just black out there,” he said. “I’m not surprised. Heavy, wet snow on power lines? We’re also not exactly prepared for snow like this here, either,” Aisling said as Lee tilted her head and nuzzled at the sensitive junction of her neck and shoulder, his other hand starting to retrace its earlier path. She turned her head and whispered in his ear, “What are you doing?” “Trying to finish what we started earlier,” he whispered back. “You’re bad,” she muttered, “Well, we might as well all go to sleep now. I can’t imagine the power is going to be back any time soon,” she said louder. “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” Lee agreed, waiting for her to sit up so he could get up. As soon as he stood up and before she could protest, he had picked her up. “Hold on...let me get the flashlight on my phone on before you run into something and drop me,” Aisling said. While she was doing that, Lee turned back to where he could barely see Matt outlined by the window, “You’ll be OK out here on the couch?” “Yeah. There’s a couple of blankets out here. I’ll be fine. Just don’t drop her.” Lee was kind of surprised at the tone in Matt’s voice when he said that. Like he really cared about her. “I won’t. See you in the morning,” he said turning and walking into their bedroom, pushing the door closed with his foot. “Now, where wer…” he never finished the question because Aisling pulled his head down and crushed her mouth to his. She pulled back a little to demand, “Bed...now,” before continuing her assault on his mouth. He quickly obeyed, setting her down on the bed where she stayed up on her knees, breaking them apart only to get their shirts off once more. Aisling started pushing his sweats down as he came back to attack her neck again, marking her the way she had marked him earlier. He pulled his sweats off the rest of the way and gently pushed Aisling onto her back. Lee hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her sweats and pulled them off, being careful of her ankle. “Get back here. You know I can’t chase you,” she growled. “You don’t have to chase me, you never did. I was yours from the minute we met.” She felt his weight on the bed and suddenly found herself flipped over on her stomach. She shivered as he placed butterfly kisses up her spine, nudging her legs apart. She could feel him hot and heavy against her ass. He reached one hand underneath her hips, lifting them slightly and slid home, both of them groaning at the sensation. Lee kept his hand where it was, making contact with the bundle of nerves that he had been teasing earlier. He kept some of his weight off her with his other arm. Aisling pushed up on her elbows, gasping a little, “Now if we don’t get interrupted again,” she said between breaths. She dropped her head to rest on the bed and Lee took that opportunity to kiss the nape of her neck, “I don’t think I could stop now if we were,” as he picked up the tempo. Faster than she expected, she felt the build-up in her pelvis and within seconds, she was seeing stars, using one of the pillows to stifle a scream, hearing Lee grunt and feeling him pulse inside of her. She could feel his arm shaking, he pulled out of her and pulled his other hand out from under her. He lowered himself onto her, leaning down to kiss her. “I know I’m crushing you, but give me a bit to catch my breath.” “You’re fine. It’s actually nice. You’re kind of like a gravity blanket, but one I can kiss,” leaning over to kiss him again. After a few minutes, Lee moved off of her, stood up, and picked her up. “What are you doing?” “Nothing, just getting us under the covers.” He pulled the blankets down, laid her back down, climbed in, and pulled the covers back up over them. Aisling snuggled into his side, laying her hand up over his heart. She could feel him relaxing, his breathing evening out. Just when she thought he was out, he turned on his side and tucked her tightly up against his chest, wrapping a leg around her. He sighed, and she could tell the exact moment he went to sleep. His hold on her loosened a bit and the leg that was over her became a bit heavier. She drifted off herself in a few minutes. 

Sometime just after dawn, Aisling woke up. She had turned in her sleep and Lee was now surrounding her from behind, his face in her neck as usual. One of her hands was not under the blankets and it felt cold. She slid more of her arm out from under the blankets and the air was freezing. “Shit it’s cold,” she muttered while pulling her arm back in. “Turn up the fucking heat then,” she heard an irritated growl in her ear. “Lee, darling, sweetheart, light of my life, I’d love to, but the power is still out.” He stretched, reaching one arm out from under the covers and immediately yanked it back under, “Shit…” He pulled Aisling closer into him and grumbled something while brushing his mouth across the back of her neck. “You know we’re going to have to move at some point. I need to go pee and one of us should check on Matt. Those weren’t the heaviest blankets out there.” “Well, I can’t do one of those and we shouldn’t both get out. The bed will get cold and take forever to warm up again.” “Right. I’m going first then,” she said, steeling herself for the cold air, “I really need to start leaving a robe on the bed all the time,” she muttered. She slid out and hobbled as fast as she could to the bathroom, cussing the whole way. Aisling was back in less than two minutes, diving back under the covers. “Damn, woman, watch where you’re putting your hands and feet!” Lee yelped. “Sorry, but I’m cold,” she said, shivering and snuggling into him. After a few minutes, she said, “When you go check on Matt, maybe put on some sweats and toss me your t-shirt I was wearing earlier?” “Since when did we decide that I’m doing that? Why do I need to put on pants? He’s seen everything already.” "My ankle didn’t magically become un-sprained overnight. Maybe he has seen all that,” she said, pushing her hips against him and getting a soft grunt, “but it’s polite. Not to mention it’s cold and 'shrinkage'? Plus, he hasn’t seen all this,” pushing against him again. “He doesn’t get to see all this, that’s mine,” he pushed back while reaching an arm around and grabbing her ass. “We keep this up and nobody’s going anywhere for awhile,” he said and then kissed her long and slow while lightly running his fingers up her spine. “Seriously, we really should make sure he’s OK,” Aisling said when they broke apart. “Fine. I’ll go…” He jumped out, pulled on his sweats quickly, tossed her his shirt, and hustled out to the living room. He was back in no time with Matt following him. Aisling looked up at both of them, “Hey, just looking at my phone, cell towers are still up. The temperature has dropped to 5°F and it’s expected to drop more. Power company sent out a text, too. The whole city is out and they have no idea when they’re going to get power restored.” “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about the food in the fridge and freezer spoiling, but how are we supposed to get anything hot? The stove is gas but it’s an electronic ignition” Lee said. “I know how to by-pass that. Oh, and the water heater is gas, too, so at least we’ll have hot water.” “OK, but that’s not going to keep us warm,” Matt said. Aisling looked at Lee, “You know there’s only one solution for that?” He nodded, “Yep. Good thing we decided to work on being friends…” 

Shortly, they were all piled up on the bed with several more blankets. Lee and Matt had gotten some hot drinks and brought back a selection of books and magazines. They had also decided that Aisling belonged in-between them on the theory that since she was injured and smaller than them, she needed to be kept the warmest. She didn’t really protest, it was kind of cute the way they were both doting on her. Aisling was tucked up against Lee’s side with Matt close on her other side. She could tell after about an hour or so that Lee had fallen back asleep. “He is still the most innocent-looking thing I’ve ever seen when he’s asleep,” Matt said quietly. She looked up at Lee and then at Matt, “Yeah. He can be exasperating at times, but then I see this face when he’s asleep... Then there’s those obscene eyelashes of his.” “Have you noticed that he flutters his eyes sometimes?” “Oh, my gods yes! Disarms me completely. How can someone his size be so utterly adorable?” “He honestly has no idea how devastating the combination of his looks and sweet nature really is.” “No he does not, which makes him even more attractive,” Aisling said. They just stared at each other for a moment. Lee suddenly stretched, causing them to break eye contact. “What are you two talking about?” he asked in a slightly scratchy voice. “Oh, just about how some people are completely oblivious,” Matt said and they both started giggling. Lee just looked at both of them, “OK...anyway...I’m going to make some more hot tea for us.”

Aisling waited until she could hear him banging around in the kitchen then looked at Matt. “While he’s in the kitchen, we need to talk,” she said quietly. “About what?” “You know what. You’ve been hitting on me since you got here last night and if Lee hasn’t noticed by now, he’s going to soon. Why?” “He loves you and I still love him, and…” “You don’t know me enough to even think that.” “I do know I love how protective and accepting of him you are.” While they were talking, Matt was getting closer to Aisling. He decided to just finally do what he’d been itching to do for some time and closed the last distance between their lips. Aisling was shocked and knew she should push him away, but he was so soft and gentle she just couldn’t. When his tongue swept across her bottom lip, questioning, she granted him access. At the same time, he scooted up so he was above her, pressing her lightly into the bed. He ran his hand lightly down her cheek and then around the back of her neck to hold her still while he explored her mouth. Suddenly though, surprising the hell out of Matt, she was pushing back into his mouth. “I was wondering when this was going to happen,” they both heard Lee say. Aisling’s eyes went wide, Matt dropped his head to hide his face in the pillow. She looked over his shoulder, fully expecting to meet an angry Lee, but was greeted with a slight smirk. “You were expecting _this_?” she said in complete confusion. “Yeah. I’ve seen the way he’s been looking at you since he got here. I didn’t miss what he was doing last night, and you discouraged him just a little too harshly,” Lee said, handing Aisling a mug and gently tapping Matt’s head with the other. Matt pulled his face out of the pillow and turned over, sitting up, and taking the mug from Lee, “You’re awfully chill about this.” Lee returned to where he’d been earlier with his own mug, “I’m serious. I’m not surprised at all and honestly, I’m kind of glad. Regardless of what you did and how you did it, I do still love you. Clearly, Aisling and I love each other…” “So...wait...what are you saying? Do you want for the three of us to…?” Aisling asked. “You’re my two favorite people in the world and you’re obviously getting along.” “I’m willing to if Matt is...” They both looked at Matt. “I’m willing to give it a go,” he said. “Good,” Lee said, “Now we need to concentrate on keeping warm, especially you, little one,” he said as he tucked Aisling close into his side with Matt moving in close on her other side. For the next few hours they just read and snuggled, finally able to relax because of their decision with their relationship. Both Matt and Lee continued to frustrate Aisling by treating her like some fragile doll. She again had to smack them both away when she needed to go use the bathroom. “Seriously, I’m not some delicate flower. It’s not as if I haven’t been hurt before.” Lee looked at Matt, “You’re going to have to get used to stubborn.” “Yeah, I kind of guessed that.” She just glared at both of them. 

Somewhere around noon, the power came back on. “Yay! Now I can go get a shower,” Aisling said as she started to slide out of bed. “Oh no you don’t. Not alone anyway,” Lee said grabbing hold of her waist to stop her. “Oh, for chrissakes…” “I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer. You can’t put any weight on your left foot and hopping on a wet floor is a bad idea,” he said while he stood, scooped her up, and threw her over his shoulder. “Not the caveman thing again,” she groaned. "If you'd quit being so damn stubborn…" as he smacked her ass. She whacked his back. “Ow! Stop that.” “I will if you put me down, dammit.” “Not yet,” but he did pull her back over his shoulder as he walked into the bathroom. Which accomplished the goal of pulling up the t-shirt she had on so he could pull it off her while he kicked off his sweats. He reached into the shower to turn on the tap, holding Aisling around her waist. When the water warmed up he stepped in and finally set her down on the floor of the stall. “OK, you can leave now,” she told him, pushing at him. “Nope, I was serious. I’m not letting you try to do this on one foot.” “You promise to behave yourself?” “I promise. Now turn around and I’ll wash your hair.” She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously as she let him turn her around. Surprisingly, Lee behaved himself and Aisling wasn’t sure if she was glad or insulted. After they got out and while she was getting dried off, he wrapped a towel around himself and went to get them both some clothes. It seemed to take him a little longer to get back than she expected. But when he did get back, he was already dressed and by the look on his face, she could guess why it had taken so long. It was so nice to see him this happy. Not that he wasn’t before, but the extra stress that he’d had since Matt showed up was gone. 

The rest of the day was spent with Aisling arguing with both of them that she could get around fine on her own and Matt and Lee arguing that she didn’t need to. She finally got them to compromise by using them as sort of a crutch. Once she got sat down on the couch, though, they refused to let her get up from there. She managed to sneak to the bathroom on her own while they were in the kitchen getting dinner. Matt caught her coming out of the bathroom, “Just what do you think you’re doing?” “I was just going back to the couch.” “Didn’t we say to call one of us to help you get there?” “Don’t I keep telling you I can manage just fine on my own?” “He said you were stubborn, but damn...you are stubborn,” he said as he scooped her up off her feet. “What is it with you two? Quit treating me like a delicate fucking flower! I can manage.” He set her down on the couch, tucked a blanket over her, “We know that, but you don’t have to ‘manage’. Let us take care of you.” “OK, fine,” she huffed, shaking her head, “but don’t get too used to it. What are you two making for dinner anyway?” “Just spaghetti and garlic bread. Nothing fancy.” 

Two hours later, dinner had been cleaned up by Matt and Lee while Aisling had looked for a movie for them to watch. Lee was in one corner with Aisling between his legs with his arms wrapped around her. Matt was curled up with her feet in his lap, being gentle with her injured foot, with one hand over on one of Lee’s legs. “Jesus, that hurts just looking at it.” “It really doesn’t hurt that much and the swelling is almost gone.” Lee chimed in, “But you’re still going to take it easy on it for the next couple of days.” Aisling rolled her eyes so hard that Matt thought her eyes were going to roll right out of her head and started laughing. “She’s rolling her eyes, isn’t she?” which just made Matt laugh more. “I keep telling you, I’ve had worse and I don’t need you handling me with kid gloves,” she said, thoroughly exasperated with Lee. “And I keep telling you, you don’t need to tough it out. You’ve got two people more than willing to…” he was cut off from finishing what he was saying by his phone going off. He picked it up off the side table to see what it was. “That was the studio. If the roads are clear tomorrow, they want to try for a late afternoon shoot for a couple of scripts ahead. Those are in the winter and they figure if they’ve got Nature providing the snow, they want to take advantage of it. So make that one person more than willing to take care of you.” “So what time do you have to be out there?” Aisling asked. “Yeah, they want us there around 1pm. Not a clue as to how long we’ll be out there.” “I guess we’ll just have to find some way to amuse ourselves,” Matt said while squeezing Aisling’s calf slightly. “I guess we will,” she answered with a raised eyebrow. 

Another couple hours passed and Aisling had fallen asleep. She was tired and actually hurting more than she was willing to admit. “I’m taking her to bed,” Lee said quietly to Matt. “She thinks that I can’t tell that she’s hurting,” shifting her gently and trying not to wake her. “Are you coming?” “Yeah right behind you. Just let me turn off the lights.” By the time Matt got in the bedroom, Lee had Aisling settled and had gone to brush his teeth. Matt did the same and they both got into bed on either side of her. Lee curled around her from behind as usual. Matt turned out the light and scooted over close, laying on his back. Lee reached over, circling his hand around Matt’s arm, “I have missed you and I am happy you’re here.” Matt put his hand over Lee’s, “So am I. Aisling is an amazing woman.” “Yes she is and we are _very_ lucky.” They stayed quiet and eventually they both fell asleep as well.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“OK, seriously. If I put a washcloth down on the floor to stand on so it’s not slippery, will you please get the hell out of here and let me take a shower in peace?” “Nope...not gonna happen, sweetheart.” “Goddamnit.” This was the loud “conversation” that woke Matt up the next morning. He knew how overprotective Lee could be at times, but Aisling seemed more than capable of handling him. He just shook his head and decided he’d be better off to just stay out of it if the tone of their voices was anything to go by. Which was a wise decision on his part. Aisling wasn’t just annoyed, she was angry. At first it was cute, now she was getting seriously pissed with Lee constantly hovering. At the moment they were glaring at each other, neither determined to give in. Aisling was at a significant disadvantage though because no matter how strong she was, Lee was just simply bigger than her. Which he decided to use this one time. “You...are not...taking...a shower...by yourself,” he said as he advanced on her. But Aisling held her ground, glaring up at him. “Try and stop me.” “And I don’t see how you’re going to stop me,” he said as he leaned down and picked her up with one arm around her hips. This brought her eye level with him. While they glared at each other, he reached into the shower stall and turned on the water. As soon as it was warm, he stepped in, but instead of setting her down, he pinned her up against the wall rather forcefully. As pissed off as she was, she still wrapped her legs around his waist. 

They just glared at each other for about 10 seconds. Aisling was the first to break it, “I will be so fucking glad when you head out to the studio and leave me in peace.” “Believe you me, if I could, I wouldn’t. You need to stay off your goddamn ankle.” “Just stop it. I know I’m small, but shit, you should know by now I’m not some delicate China doll that needs to be wrapped in fucking bubble wrap!” “Don’t forget Matt’s still here, so me leaving won’t do you any good,” he said with a smirk. “Oh, you are so wrong. He’s still scared of me.” The whole time they had been growling at each other, Aisling had become very aware of something that she could use to distract Lee from his current bloody-minded obsession about her ankle. Suddenly, she snaked a hand in-between their bodies and got a gentle but firm grip on that distraction. Lee’s reaction was immediate with his pupils dilating. He hitched one of her legs up higher around his back, and shoved up into her roughly and started moving hard and fast. She reached a hand behind his head, fisting it in his hair and pulling his head closer. She twisted his head to the side, pulling hard enough for it to burn his scalp a little while getting her mouth on the sensitive place on his neck under his ear. That produced a low groan out of his mouth. Very soon Aisling could feel the coiling low down in her pelvis and could feel Lee’s lower back tightening beneath her calf. Suddenly she exploded around him and bit down on his neck knowing, but not caring, that she was leaving a mark and shortly after felt him pulsing in her and another long, low groan escaping his mouth. 

After a couple of minutes, Lee slid out of Aisling and finally set her down on the floor in the shower. _“That’s one goal finally accomplished,_ ” she thought to herself. He leaned his back against the wall of the shower, still trying to catch his breath. “Don’t think I didn’t figure out what you were doing, minx.” “Finally,” she huffed as she started washing her hair, “See? I’m not having any trouble at all.” “OK, fine, I get your point...but I’m not helping you with Matt though. You gotta negotiate with him on your own.” “Like I said, he’s no problem. I kind of scared the crap out of him when he first showed up.” 

“Are you two finally done...arguing...in there?” Matt asked them as they exited the bathroom 15 minutes later. “Only I’d like to get a shower at some point, too, and would prefer not to have to do it in cold water.” “Oh, please. We weren’t in there that long,” Aisling said rolling her eyes, “It’s at least still warm. It’s all yours. Go knock yourself out,” blowing him a kiss on her way out of the bedroom. 

A couple of hours later, Lee left to go to the studio. He had decided to leave earlier than he normally would because of the road conditions and the inexperience of most of the population there had driving in bad conditions. “Be careful. I know you know what you’re doing, but nobody else around here does,” Aisling told him. “I will. Don’t be too hard on Matt. He’s not used to your brand of stubborn,” Lee said as he dropped a kiss on her mouth on his way out the door. After he closed the door behind him, Matt looked at Aisling, “Will you be OK if I went over and packed up my stuff and checked out of the hotel?” “Like I keep telling Lee, I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse than this and got along fine on my own.” “You know that and I’ve figured that out, but Lee… I don’t know where that overprotective streak comes from honestly.” “Some of it might be my fault. He was not happy with me confronting that creepy ass stalker chick. I could tell she wasn’t dangerous, but I think it might have been more my not telling him she was here.” “It certainly didn’t help, but I get what you’re saying. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” “You be careful, too. Don’t hurry on my account.” “I won’t,” hugging her on the way out the door.

Aisling had already decided that she was going out. She dug around and found the ankle brace that she had kept for when she had a tendonitis flare up in her ankle and added some KT tape for a little extra support. Within a half hour, she had her ankle fixed up. Between that and her boots that came up to mid-calf, she could hardly tell there was anything wrong with it. They needed some groceries and she was going a little stir crazy with the weather keeping them in. It was nice being outside, even though it was still freezing cold. But, she realized that she better hurry and get back. She knew she had hours before Lee got home, but Matt would be back sooner. Neither one of them was going to be happy that she had gone out by herself. Matt would be easy, though. Like he said, he’d already figured out she could take care of herself. Lee, though...Even though he said he got it, she was pretty sure he was going to give her hell over it. 

About an hour and a half later, Matt was back. “You went out didn’t you?” “Yes…and?” Aisling answered by narrowing her eyes at him, almost daring him to do something about it. “Nothing. I’m fine,” he said as he held his hands up in surrender, “But you-know-who is going to have a fit about it.” “He’s gonna have to get over it. I’ve got some work to do, if you don’t mind. Find a movie to watch or something?” “I’ve got some emails and some other things to catch up on, too. I can work out here on the dining room table…?” “Actually, there’s enough room on the desktop in the office if you want.” 

They’d been working on their own things for a couple of hours when Aisling’s text alert went off once...and then another 4 times in quick succession. She started laughing, “There’s only one person that texts that close together and he’s usually on a tear about something.” “He does that to you, too?” “Yep. Let’s see what’s going on.” She opened the messages and was reading them when Matt’s text alert went off twice in close succession. “Oh, great. Now he’s got two of us to rant at,” he said as he picked it up, “I’m guessing I’ve got the same message basically as you? They’re taking a dinner break and…” “They’re going to be there until the wee hours of tomorrow morning? Yep.” “I know he loves what he does, but sometimes he gets wound up when things unexpectedly get sprung on him.” “It’s kind of funny the rants he gets on. I’ll answer him. Besides, I’m guessing the ones you got are to sit on me or something to that effect.” “That, and to make sure that I make dinner. Which, given the time, it looks like I should.” Aisling was answering Lee and glanced up when Matt stood up, but did a bit of a double-take because he was stretching his arms up...which pulled his shirt up. That’s when she noticed that Matt wore his pants down low on his hips like Lee. Her mouth went dry and she managed to look away before he noticed her staring.

Within the hour, Matt had something made and while they were eating, they had a good conversation just getting to know each other. While getting it cleaned up and changed into their pajamas, Aisling suggested they find a movie to watch. It took about 10 minutes, but they finally settled on “Holiday in the Wild”. It was a romantic comedy, which surprised Aisling that Matt picked it out. “So are you a closet romantic or something?” She teased him. “Oh, there’s nothing closeted about me, babe.” “I can see your senses of humor are similar. Joy,” Aisling said, rolling her eyes. “You know you love it.” She quirked an eyebrow at him, “It’s still too early to tell…”

It turned out that a questionable sense of humor wasn’t the only thing that Lee and Matt had in common. Matt exhibited the same stand-offishness that Lee had the first night he was there. In fact, it looked to her like he was even more hesitant, judging by his electing to sit in the overstuffed chair. She figured that it was most likely because of everything that had happened up until now. But he kept glancing over at Aisling. “You look uncomfortable squashed in the chair like that,” she said about an hour into the movie, "why don't you come over here?" “I’m fine…” “You know I don’t bite, right? Well, not unless you want me to…” He looked at her in surprise. “All I’m saying is it’s fine if you want to stretch out. Grab a pillow and come over here where it’s more comfortable.” “If you’re sure…” “You two are exactly alike in tip-toeing around what you really want to do. Yes, I’m sure.” He finally did join her on the couch, lifting her legs that she had stretched out, sitting down, and pulling her legs over his. Because he knew he’d never hear the end of it, Matt gently examined Aisling’s ankle, “It looks better. How does it feel?” “It’s just more sore than anything now. But you can keep doing that,” she said as he had switched to gently massaging down her foot and up onto her calf. They returned to watching the movie. Soon Matt stopped, but laid his hand high up on Aisling’s thigh. She reached over and put her hand on top of his, wrapping her fingers around his, rubbing her thumb over the back. They remained like that for the rest of the movie. When it was over, Aisling yawned and stretched, bending back over the arm of the couch, tipping her head back as well. Matt couldn’t help staring at the way her t-shirt stretched tight, outlining everything. He looked away quickly when she finished the stretch, but not quick enough. Aisling said with a smirk, “I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little tired. I’m heading to bed and maybe read for a bit. Are you coming?” with a look that said she wasn’t in the least bit actually tired. “Umm...yeah…let me turn out the lights and shut down my laptop...”

When Matt got in the bedroom, Aisling was already in bed reading. He slid in next to her and opened up the book he had. Aisling scooted over, lifted his arm and snuggled into his side. She felt him stiffen, clearly still apprehensive, “Will you just relax? It’s not as if I’m going to rip off your clothes...unless you want me to.” There was obvious amusement in her voice as she said the last. Which made him huff, but he did start to relax and they just read quietly for the next few minutes. Soon he started gently running his fingers up and down her arm. Aisling, with a small smile to herself, was pretty sure he didn’t realize what he was doing. But a couple of minutes later, she wasn’t so sure anymore. His hand came up under her jaw, tipping her head back to softly, almost hesitantly, kiss her. She rolled towards him, throwing a leg over his, which is when he became aware that the t-shirt was the only thing she was now wearing. That was all the encouragement he needed and suddenly his tongue was demanding entrance to her mouth that she immediately granted. His other hand came up to palm one of her breasts through the shirt, rubbing his thumb over the already hardened center. Soon they broke apart so that they could breathe. “See, I told you I don’t bite…” Aisling said. “No, but I do,” Matt said while pushing her over onto her back. Finding and biting gently where her neck and shoulder joined, she gasped. She started pushing at the pajama bottoms he was wearing. He stilled. “Why did you stop?” came Aisling’s breathless whisper. “Do we really want to do this?” “I do and…” she started pushing at his pants again, her hands brushing against his hardness, “unless I’m very much mistaken, so do you.” He looked her dead in the eyes, “You’re right,” standing up to get rid of his pajama pants and pulling off his shirt, “and you are now overdressed.” “Not for long,” she said as she pulled her shirt over her head. She barely had it off before he was back, pressing her down into the mattress, crushing his mouth against hers to explore deeply. One hand slid down to pull her leg up, pressing it out and down, taking that moment to push slowly into her core. They both sighed and stilled for a moment, adjusting to each other. Matt started moving at a slow tempo, keeping his hand lightly circled around Aisling’s ankle. Soon though, she groaned impatiently, fisting one hand in the sheet, and bucking her hips up to encourage him to speed up. He took her cue. He also turned loose of her ankle and grabbed her hands in both of his, to rest on either side of her head as he lowered his head to bite and suck gently on both nipples. Between that and the perfect angle that his pubic bone was hitting, Aisling was suddenly seeing stars with her back arching up off the bed. Seeing this and feeling her clenching powerfully around him sent Matt over the edge. She felt his rhythm stutter and jerk with a warmth filling her and a low groan spilling out of his mouth. 

He brought his head back up, tenderly kissing her and releasing her hands. He then dropped his head into the crook of her neck, still trying to catch his breath. He slipped out of her and tried to move off her, but Aisling wrapped her arms around his shoulders to hold him in place. “Isn’t this uncomfortable for you?” he mumbled into her neck. She thought he sounded a little sleepy and smiled. “No, you’re fine. You don’t weigh nearly as much as Lee.” “Even so, we might want to move up and turn out the lights.” “Probably not a bad idea.” Aisling scooted up, straightening the sheets and duvet out, while Matt stood up, scooped up their clothes that had gotten scattered around, deposited them on the nightstand, turned off the light, and crawled back in bed. She tucked herself into his side with an arm draped over his torso while he wrapped an arm around her. She stretched up to kiss his jaw, “Go to sleep.” Soon she felt his breathing even out and she soon joined him in sleep.

Around 2am, Lee finally staggered in the door, completely exhausted. The apartment was dark, but there was enough light coming in from outside that he could still see. He stopped short as he walked into the bedroom. Aisling on her back, Matt on his front, with his face in her neck. He was half covering her with one hand cushioning her head while she had her arm flung above her head. Neither of them had a stitch of clothing on. He smiled to himself while stripping out of his clothes. _“Well, that happened. Good,_ ” he thought to himself. He crawled in on Aisling’s other side, sliding an arm around her waist. “What time is it?” he heard her ask softly. “It’s around two. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he whispered as he gently moved Matt’s arm so that he could pull her into his arms and kissed her slowly. “I really missed you.” “I missed you, too,” as her arm draped over his waist and kissed the notch in his neck. About that time, they both heard a confused, “What’s going on?” “Nothing,” Lee answered, reaching out and grabbing his hand. “Go back to sleep, love.” Aisling had already dropped off again by the time he answered Matt, who he could tell wasn’t awake. He laid there for a couple of minutes thinking how lucky he was before joining his lovers in sleep.

Aisling woke up later in the morning and looked at the clock. It was just past 6am and, as usual, Lee was behind her with his face shoved in her neck. One big, warm hand was resting on her hip, the other was under her head. She also realized that Matt was gone and what had woken her up was that she could hear him in the kitchen. She shifted slightly so that she could get up. Lee’s hand tightened on her hip and she heard what sounded like a slight growl, but he didn’t wake up. She moved his hand and slid off the bed. A small whine sounded in the back of his throat, he rolled over onto his stomach, pulled a pillow over, and settled again. She reached in the closet and grabbed her heavy robe. She left the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind her, and padded out to the kitchen. 

“Hey there...you’re up early.” Matt was over in front of the stove. He looked at her over his shoulder with a smile, “Hey, yourself. What’s with the surprised look?” “Nothing. Just used to cranky in the morning. Which I don’t help because I find it funny.” “Oh, yeah, he’s not at his most charming first thing.” “Ain’t that the truth?!” She walked over to look around him, sliding her hand around his stomach, “What are you making?” “Just some bacon and scrambled eggs.” “You might want to just make enough for two. I’m hoping Lee doesn’t wake up for a while yet. It was around two when he got in this morning. I’m surprised he managed to get his clothes off.” “Yeah I heard him. He sounded exhausted.” “And he hardly moved when I got up just now.” He handed her a cup of tea with a kiss. Aisling realized that just like with Lee, there was no “morning after” awkwardness between them. In fact, the awkwardness that _had_ been there before seemed to have evaporated as well.

Within a few minutes, they were sitting on stools at the bar that separated the kitchen from the dining nook eating. “So what’s on the agenda today?” Matt asked. “I’ve got to log on and do some actual work. That will probably take me until eleven or so.” “I’ve got some work to do, too. Some designs to approve and some sourcing contracts to look at. That will take me a few hours.” “But right now, I’m going to go get a shower. You obviously know there’s enough room in there for two. Saves time and water...usually” she said hopping off the stool and walking off towards the bedroom. She opened the door and looked over at the bed. Lee had sprawled out on his back and the covers had not followed him. Aisling walked over and pulled them back over him, ran a hand over his face, and dropped a kiss on his temple. She smiled as a small sigh escaped his mouth, but he didn’t wake. She went over to the closet and grabbed some clothes then went into the bathroom and closed the door. She had just lathered up her hair when the door opened and Matt stepped in. “Took you long enough. You can’t possibly be shy about this after what happened last night.” “No, I was just putting our dishes in the sink and finding some clothes to wear. I noticed that Lee is still dead to the world. Which is good. He lets himself get worn out too often.” “Yeah, he does. He also doesn’t think I know when he’s exhausted. The bridge of his nose gets dark.” "You noticed that, too?" They continued talking through the rest of getting showered, drying off, and dressing. About 30 minutes later, they went out through the hall door. Aisling went into the office to get power up her laptop and get to work and also put on some music. Matt went and washed the dishes from breakfast and then came into the office to get to his work.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

They had been working and chatting for about three hours when they heard the door to the bedroom open and Lee came wandering in. “Hey baby,” Aisling said, looking up at him, “how you feeling?” He ran his hand over his face, muttering something that was probably some sort of vulgarity. Then scrubbed his hand through his hair, making it stick out in all directions and walked out to the living room and dropped onto the couch. Matt and Aisling looked at each other, stifling giggles, Matt yelling after him, “When do you need to be back at the studio?” “Two this afternoon...and it’s going to go into the early hours tomorrow morning again,” his voice sounding like sandpaper. “What?!” Aisling said, clearly not happy, getting up and going into the living room, “Two?! Are they trying to kill you? That’s not enough time. It’s already 11 and you haven’t even had a chance to eat or get cleaned up!” “Well, that set not being finished a while back and this storm put filming behind schedule. They’re trying to get us caught up.” “By wearing everyone out?" Aisling's voice was getting louder. "Exhaustion is how people get hurt, too." Matt, who had also come into the living room, added, not any happier with the situation. "I don't know what y'all expect me to do. Tell them I need to go home early because my girlfriend and boyfriend said so?” “I guess not…” Aisling said, “But maybe point out to them that they are working with a bunch of humans...not actual elves...and you all need to eat and sleep occasionally.” She had stopped in front of Lee, with her hands on her hips and nailing him with a glare. A smirk appeared on his face. “What?” She snapped. He stood up, wrapping his arms around her hips at the same time and picking her up, “I wonder how many people seeing us together, think I’m huge and intimidating and don’t realize you’re the dangerous one.” “I can attest to that, having been the actual target of that look on one occasion,” Matt said. “Don’t either of you forget it,” Aisling said glaring at both of them, but they could both see a smile lurking. Lee, taking Aisling with him, started walking back into the bedroom. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Like you said, I haven’t had a chance to get cleaned up. I’m going to take a shower.” “Then put me down and we’ll get you something to eat while you’re in there.” “But you haven’t even kissed me ‘good morning’ yet,” he said with a pout, stopping to let her stand on the bed. She draped her arms around his shoulders, “I apologize. I am _so_ sorry. Let me fix that…” and leaned in to kiss him, sucking on his bottom lip gently. He tried to resist, but couldn’t help opening his mouth and let her deepen the kiss. They broke apart to catch their breath, “Happy? Now go get a shower. What do you want to eat?” Lee groaned, “Would you please not ask loaded questions like that when I can’t do anything about it?” Aisling hopped off the bed, laughing at him on her way out.

Thirty minutes later, they were all sitting down to some soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. “So what are you two going to do today?” Lee asked Aisling and Matt. “I don’t know. We could see how you handle high altitudes,” she said looking at Matt and snickering a little. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Lee grumbled. Matt looked at them both in confusion, “What’s so funny?” “Well, I took sunshine here up the tram which tops out at 10,300 feet at the crest. I thought he was going to pass out for a little bit. Then he got the bright idea to have a drink with aquavit in it at the restaurant up there. If that wasn’t enough, he tried to get me in the back seat of the car when we got back down to the parking lot.” Matt was about to die laughing by this point. Lee was just shaking his head, looking at Aisling, “I hate you.” “No you don’t. You _looooove_ me. No good trying to take that back now,” she said while making a kissy face at him. “Anyway...on that note, I need to go get my bag and get out of here. Whatever you two do, behave yourselves.” Lee went and grabbed his bag, came back, kissed both of them goodbye and left.

Once he was out the door, Matt asked Aisling, “How long did it take you to figure out he has no tolerance for alcohol?” “I already had long before I met him. You can see it in pictures. His eyes…” “They get really sleepy looking? Yes! Then he tries to deny it!” They picked up the dishes and took them into the kitchen. While they were cleaning up Aisling’s phone went off. She answered, “Hey, Bill. What’s up?” She listened for a couple minutes. “Oh, no, that’s fine...hang on a sec…” she put the phone on mute, “That’s my pilot. He knows it’s short notice, but wants to know if I can come do an afternoon flight today. Would you mind? You could come, too.” “No, I think I’ll go out exploring on my own. Figure out where things are.” OK, cool. Hey, Bill...I’ll be there. See you later,” she disconnected. An hour later, Aisling was heading out, “You know you’re more than welcome to come with me. Nobody, well... _almost_ nobody will have a problem with you.” “No, I’m fine. I haven’t really had a chance to explore on my own. Besides, I can make something for us for dinner.” “Cool. I’ll be back around 7.” “No injuries this time.” She opened the door, but before she got out, Matt said, “Hey, you forgot something.” “What?” She had her gloves, ID, sunglasses…? “This…” he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him to kiss her. 

Aisling pulled into the field about 20 minutes later. She parked, got out, and walked over to where Bill was already parked. The rest of the crew was still trickling in. “Hey, how’s your ankle?” Bill asked. “It’s fine. Pretty much 100%. I’ve still got it taped and the brace on just for some extra support.” “Good. Where is that man of yours? Did we scare him off?” “Ha! No, he’s actually over at the studio filming. They got behind and they’re trying to get back on schedule. He was gone from 11 yesterday morning until two this morning. Then he had to be back at two this afternoon and they’re going until early tomorrow morning again.” “Jeez. Are they trying to just work everyone into the ground?” “That’s what I said. I’m hoping that they maybe get done earlier and he doesn’t have to go back for a day. He needs to sleep at least.” “Well, he’s welcome to come any time, regardless of what certain people think of him.” “Yeah, where is he, by the way? Because there’s been a change on that front.” “What? You sound like you guys are OK?” “We’re fine. But remember how his ex-boyfriend was here?” “Yeah…?” “Well, he’s still here and we’re a little more than friends now…” She watched Bill’s face for his reaction. “Really…” she could see him digesting that information, look at her hard, and came to a decision. “It’s unusual, to say the least, but you seem happy. Not as stressed anymore. Mind you, if they’re not good to you, I’m going to come have a ‘chat’ with them.” “Sure you are,” she said with a laugh, “I am happy. It just seems...comfortable. I just know that Nathan is going to have something to say to me because Lee’s not here again and probably something about Matt…” “He can think whatever he wants, but he needs to keep it to himself.” Aisling heard a car drive up, turned and looked, “Speak of the devil…” 

Aisling was checking the radios when Nathan came up to her. “Sooooo...I see you’re here alone. It finally happened. I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but…” “Shut up.” “So, how long did it take for lover boy and his little friend to take off on you?” “Nathan...you have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Oh yes I do. I told you people like him that supposedly can’t decide if they like girls or boys are always out for only one thing.” “Shut. Up. Lee isn’t here because he’s at the studio filming on the Netflix series. Remember that? Oh, and by the way, Matt is still here, too.” “Well that’s got to be awkward for you. Or did he move out and shack up with the other one?” “No, he didn’t. As a matter of fact, Matt is at our place right now and is going to have dinner ready for me when I get home. Then we’re going to watch a movie. Then we’re going to take off our clothes, get in the same bed, and go to sleep...eventually.” Aisling had been watching Nathan’s eyes the whole time so she could see the exact moment he figured out what her meaning was. It took him a full 30 seconds to finally comprehend what she meant. “You mean...you two...but what about lover boy?” “Him, too. He’ll come home, take off his clothes, and sleep in the same bed with us. Do you get what I’m telling you?” “That’s disgusting!” Neither of them had heard Bill walk up, but he had heard most of the conversation. “Nathan, she’s told you and I’ve told you, who she chooses to sleep with is none of your business. Now drop it and let’s get to work.” “You mean you think this is OK? Unbelievable!” “Yes, I do. It’s her life and she’s happy. Now if you can let it go, you can stay. Otherwise...I’m going to have to ask you to leave the team.” “You’re actually choosing some...deviants…side in this?” “Yes. Because they’re all good people, non-judgemental, and she knows what she’s doing out here.” “Well, fine…!” He went to his car and left quickly. “Thanks, Bill. But you didn’t have to kick him off the team.” “Yes I did. I meant what I said about you three. Anytime you want to bring either one or both of them, it’s perfectly fine.” That’s when she noticed the rest of the crew had come closer when they saw what was happening and were all nodding their agreement. “OK, show’s over. Let’s put this balloon in the air," Bill said loudly.

“Damn that smells good! What is it?” Aisling asked as she walked in the door at about 7:15. “It’s stir-fried chicken with rice and some egg rolls.” “I’m starving, but let me go change first,“ walking into the bedroom, with Matt following her. "How did everything go?” “Great. Nice, easy inflation, he flew for about an hour. Only thing is who I thought was going to be an issue.” “How did that go?” “I got there before Nathan did and clued Bill into what was going on with us.” “Oh... and how was that?” “He’s fine with it, as long as you two treat me right. Otherwise, he’ll come and beat you up...I’m kidding!” she said seeing the look on Matt’s face. “He’s fine with it. Nathan however, not so much. In fact, he’s now no longer part of the crew.” “What?” “Yeah, he got up in my face, just really vicious. I had to be blunt with him. I’ve told him before who I’m in a relationship with is none of his damn business, but he just wouldn’t stop this time. Bill heard him call us deviants and that we were disgusting. Bill told him he could either choose to shut up and accept it or leave. He chose to leave,” she shrugged. “Damn...but I’m glad Bill is OK with it. I know this is not a normal thing at all.” “He’s perfectly fine with it. The rest of the crew is. In fact, there’s a standing open invitation for both of you to come out whenever you want.” “Wow. I’m glad it’s worked out like this. That’s partly why I chose not to go with you. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be trouble or no.” “There was a bit, but it's handled and everything is fine now. I’m starving. Where’s the food?”

Later that evening, after they’d eaten and cleaned up, they were lying on the couch, watching another romantic comedy that Matt picked. It amused her no end that he loved those kinds of movies. Aisling had also realized that Matt was as comfortable to lie on as Lee. Which is where she was when her phone rang around 11:30. She pushed up on her elbows, looked at it, but didn’t recognize the number. “Hello? Yes, this is her. Who’s this?” Matt was watching her face as she pushed up off him completely and stood up, her eyes going wide with alarm, “Omigod, oh shit...Is he OK? They did? Where? OK. We’ll be there soon.” She hung up and headed towards the bedroom. “Who was that?” Matt asked, getting up to follow her. “It was one of the assistant directors. There was an accident on the set and Lee was taken to the hospital.” “There was a _what?!_ ” “An accident. Hurry and get some shoes on, the ambulance took him to UNMH.” “Ambulance? That doesn’t sound good. Let’s go, I’ll put my shoes on in the car.” Aisling had her shoes on already, grabbed her keys and ID on the way out the door, Matt followed her out.

Twenty minutes later, Aisling was pulling into the parking lot near the Emergency Room entrance. Even as big as Albuquerque was, there just wasn’t that much traffic that late at night. “They’re not going to let either one of us back to see him or even give us any information on his condition, you know. Neither one of us is married to him,” Matt said. “Oh yes they will. They have to, I’m his emergency contact,” Aisling said as she pulled into a space. She headed directly to the check-in desk, “I’m looking for Lee Pace? He was brought in from ABQ Studios about 30 minutes ago?” The receptionist said, “I’m sorry, I can’t release that infor…” Aisling pulled her ID out and handed it to the nurse, “I’m his emergency contact?” The receptionist took it, pulled up his file on her computer, “OK, yes...here it is. Lucky this isn’t a weekend, they’ve taken him back and a doctor has seen him already. Looks like some x-rays have been ordered…” “X-rays? Of what?” “Looks like it’s his left ankle. Actually he’s already up there. They should have him back down in about a ½ hour. I can have someone take you to where they’ll bring him back to when they’re done.” “So no head injuries or anything else?” Matt asked. “Nope, complete exam done there, just his ankle. You can both start breathing again,” she said looking at their faces.

It turned out to be closer to an hour before they brought Lee back down. The x-ray had shown a simple, clean break in his left ankle. The doctor had decided to go ahead and get a pneumatic boot on him then, which is what took so long. Aisling was pacing as much as she could in the small exam room when they finally got him back down. “Oh my god, baby, are you OK?!” she exclaimed, going over to take his face in her hands. “He’s fine, but he’s not going to make much sense right now because of the morphine,” the nurse said with a little bit of a smile, “but let’s get him onto the bed first. The doctor’s going to come in and talk to you, too.” Shifting the 6-foot-5, stoned out of his mind, giant from the wheelchair to the bed took the nurse, Matt, and Aisling. They got him settled and Aisling and Matt could tell he was still in pain and sat down on either side of the bed. “This fucking hurts,” Lee whined, “Can we go home?” “I know it does, babe. We’ll go home as soon as the doctor has come and talked to us,” Matt said, “Just lie back and go to sleep.” “Don’t leave me,” he said, closing his eyes. Aisling looked at Matt, “That face kills me and I’ve only seen it twice.” “Twice? I know about one time and that was my fault.” “Stop that, it was all of us. He had a stomach virus just after Balloon Fiesta and was throwing up.” Matt was about to say something else when the doctor knocked and came in. “Hi there, I’m Dr. Xochitl Montaño, I’m an orthopedic surgeon.” “Surgeon?!” Aisling said, alarmed. “It’s OK, he doesn’t need surgery, I just happen to be the ortho on call tonight. I’m going to guess you’re his girlfriend...I’m sorry, how do you pronounce your name?” “Ash-lynn Mack-ah.” “Thank you. I've had my name butchered enough that I hate doing it to others. And you are…?” She asked, looking at Matt. “I’m Matt Foley, his boyfriend.” Dr. Montaño looked at the three of them and shrugged, “OK. Anyway...it’s a clean, simple break. We don’t really use plaster casts anymore. These pneumatic boots are a lot better. You can adjust the air pressure to hold everything steady and he can put as much weight on it as is comfortable to him. No crutches needed. Now for today, as you can see, he’s going to be out of it for a while. We’d like to keep him for another hour or so just to make sure and then you can take him home.” “How long is he going to have to wear the boot?” Matt asked. “For the next month, 24/7. But we have a wrap that can cover it to keep it dry so he can shower. After that, we’ll assess the healing, but he can start leaving it off for a few hours a day and get the ankle moving again so the joint doesn’t freeze and the muscles don’t atrophy. Today is going to be rough. He’s likely going to get sick to his stomach at some point. It’s not unusual with broken bones because of the adrenaline dump and his system has been flooded with white blood cells. I’m sending some painkillers with you, he’s going to need them probably for at least the next two days. But he looks like he’s in good hands,” she said smiling at both of him.

They finally got back to their place about 2:30 in the morning. By the time Aisling and Matt finally got Lee in bed and somewhat comfortable, it was after 3am. They had placed him on the side closest to the bathroom, just in case. He was out almost before his head hit the pillow. They were both exhausted, too. Aisling laid down on her side next to Lee with a hand over his heart so that she could feel if he moved. Matt laid down behind her and propped up on his elbow. He smoothed her hair behind her ear, “At least he’s sleeping for now,” he whispered. “He should until the morphine wears off. But he’s going to be in pain later today. This is going to be beyond him being cranky in the morning,” she said with a yawn. “I think we should get some sleep, too, sweetheart.” He reached up and turned out the light then scooted in closer behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her shoulder. She was already out and he wasn’t far behind.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Aisling was startled awake a little after nine by a loud, “Fuck!” She sat up, “What babe? Are you OK?” “No, goddamnit. I wanted to turn on my side, but this fucking thing is in the way and my leg hurts.” “I know it hurts, but I don’t know if lying on your side is a good idea yet.” “Fuck. Then help me scoot up so I can lean against the wall or is that not a good idea, either?” he sniped at her. “I know you’re in pain and hurting, but getting bitchy with me isn’t going to help.” “I know. Sorry,” he grumbled, “Where’s Matt?” She smoothed his hair back from his face, checking for any signs of fever, “I don’t know. Last time I saw him was when we got you back here and in bed around three.” “I’m right here. I went to get the painkillers and some water as soon as he started swearing.” Lee started to take the glass when all of a sudden his eyes went wide. “Shit, I know what that look is,” Aisling said and grabbed the trash can and moved it over just in time. “Go get a wet washcloth. I have a feeling this isn’t a one off thing.” Lee managed to swing his legs over the side of the bed on either side of the trashcan. “That’s gross,” he said looking down. “Well don’t look at it then,” Matt said coming back with the washcloth, “Look up here at me.” He wiped the sweat and tears off his face. “Shit…” Lee said suddenly and hunched over the trashcan again. Aishling got on her knees behind him, took the washcloth, and put it across his neck, while rubbing his back. There wasn’t much else she could do. “Should we be worried?” Matt asked, looking at him. “Remember the doctor said this might happen? I just don’t know if he’s going to be able to hold down those painkillers long enough to get into his system.” “Would you two quit talking about me like I’m not here? Give me the fucking pills and I’m thirsty.” “I'm sorry babe, but please don’t drink a lot of water. That will guarantee you throw up again,” Aisling said. He got the pills down with a couple swallows of water and shifted around to stretch out on the bed, scooting up so he was leaning on the wall. He was also shivering a little. “Now I’m cold. Shit.” Matt smiled a little. “Charming as ever when you first wake up.” Lee glared at him and flipped him off. “Matt don’t be mean," Aisling sounded serious, but Matt could see her face and she was smiling. She pulled the duvet up over Lee. “I’m going to go clean out the trash can and bring it back.” “I’ll stay here just in case,” Matt said. He looked over at Lee, his eyes were closed, and he was breathing evenly. “But it looks like he’s gone back to sleep. That’s good. I hope he sleeps the rest of the day.” Aisling sat the trash can next to the bed. “He looks exhausted, but at least that’s all it is. I’m going to go get a shower and then I think I’m going to go over to the studio and find out what happened.” “Please don’t do anything that requires getting bailed out of jail. Can you wait to go until I’ve gotten a shower, too? I feel gross, but one of us should be watching him.” “Sure, I can fix us something to eat while you’re in there.”

Aisling got back around 3pm. “So, what happened?” Matt asked. “Turns out the horse, for whatever reason, just moved suddenly when he was getting on it, caught his foot in the stirrup and just snapped his ankle. Complete freak accident. So there’s nobody to beat. How’s he doing?” “He woke up once around noon bitching that he had to pee, so that took about 15 minutes. Got some more water down him, but he’s been asleep since then.” “Good. I’m going to get something more comfortable on.” She walked into the bedroom being as quiet as she could and was almost to the closet when she heard a quiet “Hey” from the bed. “What baby? Do you need something?” “Yeah, you. Come here.” She walked over and sat down on the side of the bed, Lee pulled her down and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry for being such an asshole earlier.” “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You’re in pain.” She ran her hands over his face, smoothing his hair back and running her hands up around the back of his head, massaging and scratching lightly, “Go back to sleep.” “I don’t want to. I’d like to get cleaned up. I was already hot and sweaty before this happened. Now I just feel disgusting.” “OK. They sent us home with a protector so you can shower. But I don’t think you’re up to standing in there right now. How about we get you into the tub?" “I don’t care, just so I can get clean.” “Let me go get Matt, I can’t manage you alone.” She went into the living room, “Hey, he’s awake, but he wants to get cleaned up. Where’s that boot protector they gave us? We’ll get that on and get him into the tub.” “I didn’t realize he’d woken up again. Let me go get it.” “I think he had just woken up when I was going to the closet. But I think he’s done sniping at us.” Aisling got the water started in the tub while Matt got the protector over Lee’s leg and then helped him get in the bathroom. He tried, but he couldn’t tolerate any weight on that leg at all. When they got in there, Aisling and Matt got him stripped off and into the tub. “I’m glad this thing is sunken. We would have never gotten you in a standing tub,” Aisling said. “Gods this feels good. But now it’s going to get cold.” “No it won’t, it’s got a heater built in that will keep the water warm. Stay there as long as you want.” “You don’t have to stay in here with me. I’ll yell when I want out.” Aisling huffed at him, “No, I’m staying in here with you. Matt’s going to go get us something to eat.” “Ooh, Mexican sounds good.” “Are you sure? You were throwing up a few hours ago,” Matt looked at him dubiously. “Yeah, I feel a lot better.” “OK...Mexican it is.” “Get some green chile stew,” Aisling told Matt. "Seriously?" "Yeah. The Jews have chicken soup for everything, we have green chile stew." "Gotcha. I’ll be back soon.” 

Lee had his head back against the side of the tub and propped his booted, wrapped left foot up on the side. “You’ve got me wet and naked, but don’t get any ideas. I’m not up to it.” “Yeah, I can tell you’re feeling better. That questionable sense of humor is something you have in common with Matt,” she said while moving around behind him. “What are you doing?” “Your shoulders are up around your ears. Relax, sweetness.” She pushed down on his shoulders and started kneading the muscles there and in his neck. She could feel him starting to relax a little, but he jumped whenever she hit a knot. Soon she had those worked out and pushed him down a little. Then she got his hair wet and worked some shampoo into it, massaging and scratching his scalp lightly again. She could feel him relax some more and stretch a little. “I feel almost human again,” he said as she rinsed his hair out. “Now, how do I get out of here?” he asked. “I think if we let the water out first, get towels on the steps, you might be able to hop?” “I can try it.” In the end, Lee was able to put weight on his foot for the split second it took him to get the other foot on the step. By the time Matt got back with their dinner, Aisling had Lee stationed on the couch. They ate and watched a movie. Aisling had moved so that she had Lee’s head in her lap and Matt was sitting in the chair so Lee could stretch out. Around 10pm she looked down and he was asleep. “Those damned eyelashes of his. They are just obscene,” she said quietly, “I guess we should get him moved to the bed. Be more comfortable for us all.” “I hate to wake him up, but yeah, it would.” Aisling ran her hand over his face, “Hey sweetness, it’s time to go to get in bed.” All she got in response was an irritated grunt. She couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Babe, come on, let’s go. You don’t even have to open your eyes. Just stand up, we’ll get you in there.” “Fine. Will you stop bugging me then?” “Yes, I promise.” They got him up, with Matt on his left side taking his weight. Aisling was just simply too short to help. She went and pulled the covers back. Matt lowered him to the bed and pushed him over to the middle. Aisling turned out the light and they climbed in on either side of him. Matt draped his arm across his shoulders, Aisling tucked into his side with her hand up on his chest so she could feel his heartbeat. They were all out in seconds.

The next week was spent with Matt and Aisling trying to keep Lee from pushing it. “Would you both stop! I can get around on my own.” “Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it? Now you know how it felt to have both of you hovering all over me.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Dr. Moñtano wouldn’t clear him to go back to filming even for scenes where he’d be sitting for another week. The producers were being absolutely accommodating about it. They had a lot that could be filmed at a distance with a stand-in. There were still a lot of scenes that he wasn’t in, so they just pushed the schedule up on those. One morning, Bill texted to see if they were interested and able to come out the next morning, making a point to tell her to bring Lee and Matt. After repeated assurances from Matt and Lee, she called Bill to let him know she’d be out, but that the boys wouldn’t be with her and why. Aisling left around 5:30 the next morning, dropping a kiss on Lee's sleeping forehead and a half-awake Matt's mouth. She stopped and looked back at the bed at both of her gorgeous men. Matt had curled himself behind Lee with his arm wrapped around him. She pulled the door closed behind her, sorely tempted to strip off everything and get back in bed with them.

Matt woke up around 7, still up against Lee's back. His hand had drifted lower, realizing that clearly some part of Lee was awake. His hand gently circled him and stroked up slowly. Lee's breath hitched and he tensed up, "What are you doing?" he asked in that insanely sexy, sleep-scratched voice that never failed to turn Matt on. "Just relax, babe," he whispered, kissing his shoulder, "you're hurt. Let me do the work." Lee sighed, relaxing a bit. "There's aloe gel on the nightstand," he said because he could feel Matt hard against the curve of his ass. Matt leaned up on his elbow and grabbed the tube from the table and squirted a good amount in his hand. He closed the tube and set it back. Then he ran one hand down in-between Lee's legs, lifting one and using his leg to hold it up. He then rubbed the warmed gel down between his cheeks and down to his puckered entrance, pushing his thumb in to smooth the way. He also rubbed some of the gel on himself for some extra help. Slowly, Matt started pushing in while returning his hand around to Lee's front and slowly stroking up and down. He'd meant it when he said to let him do the work. Lee moaned softly as Matt slowly sheathed himself fully, stopping to let them both adjust. Then Matt started moving his hips and hand, slowly at first, but soon picked up the tempo and thrusted a little harder. Lee grunted, telling him he'd hit the right spot. Soon, he heard Lee's breathing hitch again, which almost sent him over the edge, but he was determined not to go first. "Let go, baby, I'll catch you," he whispered. That was the last push Lee needed, Matt felt him get harder and pulse, spilling warm over his hand with a deep moan slipping from his mouth as he turned his head into the pillow. Hearing and feeling Lee set Matt off, his rhythm totally lost, spurting warm into Lee with a moan of his own spilling out his mouth. He moved his hand up to Lee's lower abdomen, still feeling tremors in the muscles while covering his shoulder with butterfly kisses. He slowly pulled out, knowing Lee would likely be a little sore. Lee hissed a little at his withdrawal, "Sorry, love." "No, it's OK," Lee said, "It's been a while is all. I've missed you." He sounded a little sleepy. "Go back to sleep," Matt whispered. "What about the mess?" Lee mumbled. "We'll worry about it later. Sleep." "But Aisling…" "What about her?" "She'll be mad," came the barely audible mumble. "Mad? About this? No. She’ll more likely be mad that she missed out on the fun. Now go to sleep."

Aisling got home a little after 10am and it was still dark and quiet in the apartment. She set her things down quietly and took her boots off out in the living room. She opened the door to the bedroom, looking over at the bed as she quietly crossed the room to the closet. “You’re back already? Didn’t you fly?” She heard Lee ask. “Yes we did. It’s after 10, sweetness.” She crossed over and leaned down on the bed close to him. It felt a bit damp. She looked down questioningly. When she looked back up, Lee was looking everywhere but at her. “Did you…?” She couldn’t tell for sure because of the light, but she was pretty sure he was blushing. “You’re not angry are you?” “Angry? About what?” “Well, we’re together and he’s the ex…” “Yeah I think he’s a little more than your ex now and he never was my ex. Of course I’m not angry.” She leaned over and kissed him, pushing her tongue into his mouth, showing him how very much _not_ angry she was. “In fact, I’m a little put out you left me out.” “That’s what Matt said you’d say.” “We might have to do something about that sometime,” she whispered in his ear. With that, she stood up and continued on her original path to the closet. Lee was not sure what to do with that.

Close to the end of the second week, Aisling and Matt were having more and more trouble keeping Lee corralled. Finally, he went for the two week check with Dr. Moñtano and she cleared him to go back to filming as long as there wasn’t anything more strenuous than walking and standing for a few minutes at a time. Matt and Aisling were relieved. He was bored and a bored Lee frequently became a menace to both of them. From the hospital, they headed over to ABQ Studios to let them know and Matt hadn’t been out there yet. Aisling hadn’t visited for some time, except for when she’d gone over there to see how the accident had happened. Lee insisted on driving, too, using the argument that one or the other of them shouldn’t have to drive him out there and pick him up every time, especially if they got done late at night or in the early morning hours. He pointed out it was his left foot and the car was an automatic, no clutch to mess with. They both finally gave in. While Lee was talking to the director about what he could start back and what kind of schedule they would have, one of the producers took Aisling and Matt on a tour of the whole studio, not just the sets they were using. They were there for about 3 hours when Lee finally came and found them. “There you two are. I’m done here. Ready to go?” “This place is massive,” Matt said, “but yeah, I’m ready to go. When are you coming back to start filming again?” “They’re in the middle of a couple of scenes that don’t require me. But they’ll be done with them tomorrow, need to change sets around, and will be ready for me to come back in 3 days.” “I’m still not wild about you driving yourself…” Aisling started. “Would you stop? I drove over here with no problem didn’t I?” “Yeah, I guess so…” she said, still disgruntled about it.

The next couple of weeks went by fast. The studio had gotten so far ahead on the scenes without Thranduil that they were filming all of those scenes one after the other every day. But they were able to keep the hours they were shooting fairly stable. No overnight shoots, nothing over 10 hours. In the middle of the second week, there was a short day built in that Wednesday so Lee could go see Dr. Moñtano. She was happy about how fast his ankle was healing and wanted him to start leaving the boot off for two hours every day, but only when he was at home. She also gave him some small stretches to do to make sure the muscles weren’t getting too tight. He had gone straight there from the studio, but called Aisling when he got done. “I’m headed home now.” “So? How’s your ankle?” “She’s really happy with how it’s healing and wants me to start leaving the boot off for a couple of hours a day at home.” “That’s good.” “I want you two to get changed. We’re going out to dinner. I’ll be home in about 30 minutes. Love you both.” “See you soon. Love you, too.”

“I thought I told you two to get changed?” Lee said when he came in the door. “We would have, but you failed to tell us where we’re going,” Matt pointed out. “Oh...oops. We’re going to El Pinto.” “So what’s the dress code?” “It’s not a formal place at all,” Aisling said coming out of the office, “So pretty much anything goes.” Aisling was ready first, except for a ring she wanted to wear. After about 10 minutes of looking around, “Hey,” she yelled towards the bedroom, “have either of you seen that Celtic band ring of mine? I can’t find it,” she asked. “Nope,” Lee answered, “I'm sure it will turn up somewhere. Rings do if they're precious to you." "OK, Gollum. But would you two hurry up already?” “And they say women take a long time getting ready,” she thought to herself, shaking her head.

They wound up having to wait for a table at El Pinto. While there was a place to sit in the waiting area, there wasn’t enough room for all three of them. Matt and Aisling made Lee take it. It started getting a little more crowded so Lee grabbed Aisling’s hands to pull her to stand between his legs while Matt moved closer behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They got seated after about 20 minutes, the hostess had seen the boot on Lee and seated them somewhere that had plenty of room for him to maneuver. “So, what time do you need to be at the studios tomorrow?” Aisling asked. “I don’t. Turns out that changing up the shooting schedule as much as they did, we’re now ahead. We’re taking a break until Monday.” He also insisted on being the designated driver so that Matt and Aisling could have a drink or two with dinner. They protested, but his reasoning was that because they had been taking care of him and putting up with his frequently shitty attitude, that they deserved to relax a little. Since nobody had to be anywhere early the next day, they were able to relax and take their time over dinner. 

“Good grief,” Aisling groaned as they walked back into the apartment a few hours later. She kicked off her shoes and flopped on the couch, “I ate too much.” Matt dropped on the other end of the couch, “So did I.” Lee just looked at them, shaking his head, “I think you both actually had a little too much to drink. Now I’ve got to get both of you into bed.” Aisling and Matt both started giggling, their minds clearly in the gutter. “Well you would know all about not being able to hold your liquor,” Matt shot back while he got up and started towards the bedroom, “But bed does sound like an excellent idea…” “But I’m comfortable here,” Aisling said. Matt turned back around, “Well, you’re coming with us anyway.” He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. “Great. Just...great. Now I’ve got two cavemen to deal with,” she grumbled into his back. Lee just stayed out of their way. Matt set her down by the bed, “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ll be more comfortable without all these clothes.” They both shed their clothes and were in bed by the time Lee got in there after locking up, putting phones on chargers, and shutting down computers. Matt was out, but Aisling was still half-awake. He got rid of what he was wearing, turned out the light, and slid in next to Aisling. He pulled her in close to him, tucking her head under his chin. Soon Matt slid over close behind her, throwing an arm over both of them.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Aisling woke up, not knowing what time it was, but it was still dark. She realized what woke her up was someone softly kissing the back of her neck and a large, warm hand squeezing her breast and then running softly down her stomach and continuing between her legs. One of the long fingers on that hand pushed past her folds into her core. She gasped a little, turned her head slightly, and whispered, “What do you think you’re doing?” “I think you know what I’m doing,” Lee whispered back as he removed his finger to slide down the inside of her leg, lifting it and moving his leg under it. She could feel his hardness close to where she wanted it as his mouth closed over the sensitive place on her neck. She couldn’t help the louder gasp that left her mouth. “You’re not going to leave me out of this, are you?” they both heard Matt ask. Aisling reached out and grabbed his hand, “No…” and pulled him closer so that she could kiss him, trailing her hand down his abdomen. She gently circled his shaft and started stroking up and down slowly. Lee took that moment to push up into Aisling, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from her. His hand returned to her breast, pinching and twisting the nipple to a hard peak before moving to the other one. Matt moved closer, not breaking the connection with Aisling’s mouth, moving a hand down to lightly circle her clit. She made a surprised noise in the back of her throat, her eyes going wide, and tightened her grip on him slightly. Lee set a frustratingly slow tempo that she and Matt matched. Soon though, Aisling needed more and reached her other hand over her head to grab some of Lee’s hair and pulled on it hard enough to cause him to bite down on her neck. But he took the hint and sped up. Matt picked up on it and matched him also running his fingers down around where he could feel them joined. Aisling increased her speed also, adding a slight twist of her wrist. Soon her hand started tightening involuntarily and losing the steady rate she had been using. All they were doing to her was sending her into sensory overload. She pushed back into Lee causing him to go a little deeper and she suddenly contracted and exploded around him, biting down on Matt’s bottom lip. Feeling the powerful contraction around him and hearing her cry muffled by Matt’s mouth was more than Lee could take. She was vaguely aware of feeling his hips stutter and him pulse inside her and then she could also feel Matt groan into her mouth and felt him stiffen and a warmth spurt over her hand. They all lay there, gasping and not moving for several minutes. “Damn,” Aisling was the first to break the silence. “Are you OK babe?” Lee asked Aisling as he slid out of her. “More than…” as she released her hold on Matt, “But I don’t know about Matt’s lip…” pulling back to look at him. He still had his eyes closed as she reached up and ran her hand over his mouth. He cracked an eye, “You bite, too.” “Sorry,” she looked closer at it and in the dim light she could see something dark, “Oops, it looks like I drew a little blood. Let me go get something for that,” and she wriggled out from between them and padded into the bathroom to get a washcloth. While she was gone, Lee scooted over to get a look for himself. “She’s left more than a few marks on me, too,” he said as he gently brushed his thumb across Matt’s bottom lip. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. Seeing her marks on you is kind of hot.” "Yes, it is…" Lee said, moving over to gently kiss Matt, sweeping his tongue across Matt’s lips, which parted with no hesitation. Aisling was coming back into the bedroom, but stopped when she saw them and watched for a minute. It was dark, but there was enough light filtering in from outside that she could see them in the shadows. She was struck by how beautiful they were and that they were hers.

“You ever get the feeling you’re being watched?” Matt said, smiling against Lee’s mouth. They broke apart, Matt holding out a hand to her. Aisling took it and crawled back onto the bed in-between them and gently cleaned off Matt’s lip. “I really am sorry about that,” she said. “It’s fine. It’s kind of our fault anyway,” he said, sitting up a bit to kiss her. “What time is it anyway?” she asked when he turned loose. “Early, just a little after five,” Lee yawned, “I don’t know about you two, but I could use some more sleep.” “I think you’re right,” Matt said and sprawled on his back, pulling Aisling into his side. She draped an arm over him. Lee grabbed the duvet that had gotten pushed part way off the bed and scooted in close behind Aisling wrapping his arm around her waist. Within a matter of minutes they were all asleep again.

Aisling woke up again a little after eight. Once again, Matt was the first one up. It was going to take some time to get used to that. Lee, for once, didn’t have his face mashed in the back of her neck. She guessed that the boot still on his ankle was keeping him from turning in his sleep normally. She sat up and turned around to check on him. He was on his back with an arm over his face, but she could tell he was awake. “So are you going to lay there all day or get up at some point?” she asked him while poking him in the ribs. Lee grabbed her hand, “Stop that,” he growled. “Oh, so you’re going to be like that?” Aisling said, taking the opportunity to straddle him. She leaned over, pulled his arm off his face, and kissed him, letting her hair fall around them. His hands came up to tangle in her hair with a small growl from the back of his throat. His hands left her hair to trail down her back and wrapped his arms around her. “I could stay here all day,” he said softly, staring into her eyes. “But you’re not going to. We need to get up and see how you do with this boot off. Plus it smells like there’s food out there for us.” “I am hungry.” “Well, come on then,” she said climbing off him, grabbing a robe, and heading out to the kitchen. “Is he ever getting up?” Matt asked as Aisling walked into the kitchen. “He’s trying to talk himself into getting up now. I think his stomach is winning.” Lee came slowly into the kitchen, “I’ll be so fucking happy when I can get rid of this thing. I can’t do a damn thing quickly.” “Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine,” Matt said, looking at Aisling, and shaking his head. 

After they ate and got showered and dressed, Lee decided to try taking the boot off for a couple of hours like Dr. Montaño wanted him to do. He wanted to try making it to the bathroom and clean off his leg, but wouldn’t let Matt and Aisling help him. They could both tell it hurt like hell and it was hard for them to stay back. “Are you sure you’re OK, babe?” Aisling asked. “Yes...leave me alone. I’ll say if I need any help.” She looked at Matt and mouthed, “No he won’t.” He nodded back at her in agreement. So they stayed back and let him hobble around for the next two hours. Aisling took the opportunity to clean the inside of the boot. It wasn’t nearly as gross as a plaster cast when it got cut off, but it still needed some freshening up. He was ready to get it back on though and even finally admitted that he was hurting. “That’s a surprise,” Matt said. “What?” Aisling asked. “Him admitting that he’s hurting. He’s as stubborn as you on that.” “I’m guessing then that you don’t know what happened a while back just after they had started filming?” “No...what?” “He fell off Thranduil's throne.” “He...what?!” Matt asked. “Fell off the throne,” she said smiling, “Huge bruise that covered his whole hip and back onto his ass. I also couldn’t help laughing about it. Still can’t because when he got home, he didn’t want to tell me what happened. I guess falling on your ass is embarrassing,” she said, starting to laugh. Matt was laughing by this point, too. “What are you two finding so funny.” “Nothing,” Matt answered, “She was just telling me about your...difficulty...with Thranduil’s throne.” “Oh, she is?” “I would never make fun of you, babe!” Ailsing said, trying, and failing, to look hurt and innocent. “You’re lucky I can’t catch you right now...but just wait. You won’t know when and you won’t know how, but I’ll get you eventually.” “Ooh...I’m shaking,” she said walking into the office to do some work.

Later that evening, while they were eating dinner, Matt reminded them that Christmas was just a week away. “I think we should get some decorations or something,” he said. “We can go shopping tomorrow,” Lee said, “It would be nice to get out and do something normal for once.” “OK, we’ll go tomorrow,” Aisling said, “I definitely think we need some mistletoe.” About that time, they could hear Lee’s phone going off in the office. Matt went and grabbed it for him. “Hey, Alex. What’s up?” He was quiet while his manager was telling him the reason for her call. “I think I can. When is it again? OK, sure, let me check my schedule, but I don’t see why not. I’ll let you know tomorrow.” “What was that?” Aisling asked. “That was Alex. She was contacted by the organizers of the Albuquerque Comic Con. They’re interested in having me come do a panel at least because of ‘Eryn Lasgalen’.” “When is it?” “Not until the end of January so my ankle should be completely healed by then. I’m honestly surprised that it hasn’t hit the tabloid sites.” “Are you going to do it?” “I’m thinking about it. Except for one thing...I guess they got taken over by the same bunch as runs the New Mexico Comic Expo.” “Oh, that’s interesting,” Aisling said. Matt saw a look pass between Aisling and Lee. “What’s that look?” he asked. “That’s when we met for one thing,” Aisling said, “You know what happened there.” “Oh...yeah...that could get awkward for you,” Matt pointed out. “If we can all behave like adults, I don’t see why it has to.”

The three of them spent the next day out shopping in the morning and then decorating in the afternoon. After having the cast off for a couple of hours, Lee was looking for it to put it back on and couldn’t remember where he’d left it. “I told you to look in the bedroom, that’s the most likely place,” Aisling said, trying to put an ornament up high on the tree they’d gotten. “I’ll look again…” he limped back in there and soon yelled, “Babe, it’s not in here!” Aisling sighed, shaking her head at Matt, and headed into the bedroom, “If I find it, can I hit you with it?” Matt laughed, listening to them. He was still surprised at how all this had worked out given the mess he’d created. He’d always regret just leaving the way he did and for how he hurt Lee. But then, if he hadn’t, Lee wouldn’t have met Aisling. In turn, he wouldn’t have met her either. However, there was no point in dwelling on that. It was in the past, they were all happy, and he certainly wasn’t planning on going anywhere without them.

The next week, since it was going to be an interrupted week with Christmas being on Wednesday, no filming was done. Some more scripts had been finished, so time was spent going over those. When Lee got home in the middle of the afternoon on Christmas Eve, Aisling and Matt weren’t there. They’d left a note that they’d gone out to get some last minute things for the next day. Which worked out perfectly for Lee. He had a couple of things to wrap and now he could do it without certain curious eyes around. When he got his presents wrapped and took them out to where they’d put the tree, he noticed that he hadn’t been the only one that had been busy.

On Christmas morning, Aisling woke up a little before dawn. Lee, as usual, was behind her with his face in the back of her neck. Matt had himself tucked up under her chin. She just laid there listening to them breathing. Soon she heard Matt's breathing change along with feeling his lips moving softly up her throat. “Merry Christmas," she said softly. “Mmm-hmm," was his response along with hitching her leg up over his hip, opening her to him. She reached her hand up under his jaw to bring his mouth to hers. While their tongues were dueling it out, Matt slowly pushed into her core until he was fully sheathed and then stilled. Neither one of them noticed that Lee had woken up and was watching them until his hand came around Aisling's throat to pull her away from Matt and kiss her deeply. She suddenly became aware of him hard between her cheeks. Matt took that moment to start moving, Lee's hand moved down to close around her breast, teasing the nipple to a hard peak. Matt latched onto where her neck and shoulder joined. Aisling reached her hand around Lee's back, hitting the sensitive spot on his hip causing him to flex his hips. The friction of where he was caused a small hiss to come out of his mouth. The room was filled with the sounds of soft sighs and moans. This wasn't just sex, this was three people making love to each other. Soon though, Lee could feel Aisling's hand pushing harder on his lower back and her breathing change. He reached around her, seeking and finding Matt's hand, lacing it with his fingers, and squeezing. Matt had felt the change too and started moving in Aisling faster, which increased the friction for Lee, also. Suddenly, Aisling was crying out and contracting around Matt which was the last push he needed and Aisling felt him go harder and pulse in her with a shuddering moan of his own. Feeling and hearing his lovers was too much for Lee. Aisling was just aware enough to feel his lower back contract and felt a warmth spread across her lower back with a deep groan in her ear. Other than Matt sliding out of her, nobody had the desire or strength to move for several minutes. Aisling was the first to make an attempt at moving, but realized that she couldn’t until Matt did. “Mattie,” she whispered in his ear, “I need you to move, baby.” “Why? I’m perfectly comfortable right here.” “You’re not the one stuck to two people.” “That’s true.” “But oh god it was worth it,” they heard Lee mumble. They both laughed and Matt finally moved to let Aisling up. “I’m going to get a shower. You two can do what you want.” 

She wasn’t surprised when the shower door opened, but she was a little surprised that it was Lee. She couldn’t resist giving him a hard time. “So do I get to give you grief about being in here on the slippery floor with your ankle?” “You can try, but it’s not going to get you anywhere. This feels way too good. Come here.” He pulled her to him, trying to turn her around. “I haven’t gotten to do this for a long time.” “Do what?” “Wash your hair and I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer. Now turn around.” About that time, Matt yelled, “How long are you two planning on being?” Ailsing yelled back, “You know, there’s enough room in here for you, too.” He opened the door, with a dubious look on his face, “Are you sure about that?” Lee grabbed his arm and pulled, “Yes. Now get in here, you're letting all the heat out.” Everyone behaved themselves for once and were out, dressed, and in the kitchen making breakfast about 30 minutes later. They had decided on omelettes. Matt was cutting up vegetables, Lee was grating cheese, and Aisling was handling the egg portion. Before they ate, though, Lee stashed the omelettes in the oven to keep them warm. He had something he wanted to do first.

He had them both come into the living room, giving them both small boxes. “I wanted you to open these first.” Aisling opened hers first, “It’s my ring I’ve been looking for. Where did you find it?” she looked at him in confusion. “It is and it isn’t. I swiped it and had the jewelry department make a copy in palladium.” He took the box from her, pulled the ring out, took her left hand and slid it on her ring finger. Matt opened his box, revealing a ring in the same design. “I had them make three rings, actually, for each of us.” “What are you saying?” Matt asked. “I just wanted something that acknowledged what’s really going on here. That this is not just a temporary thing. It hasn’t been for some time.” “They’re beautiful,” Aisling said, “and after this morning, you are totally right about this relationship. I love both of you.” “So do I,” Matt said, “and these are perfect.” “I’m glad you both like them,” Lee said, “Now let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

After they ate, they opened the rest of their presents. There were quite a few books. Rings weren’t the only jewelry. Matt had found a necklace that had a charm for each of them on it for Aisling and one for Lee that had a small, flat piece that was engraved with their names. While the boys were cleaning up the living room and changing the sheets on the bed, Aisling got the posole for dinner simmering on the stove and made some tortillas to go with it. They spent the rest of the day lounging on the couch watching Christmas movies. They discovered that they all loved “Scrooged” and agreed that it wasn’t appreciated as much as it should be. Dinner was interesting. Neither Lee nor Matt had ever had posole before and were not too sure about it. But within about 5 minutes of trying it, Aisling found herself wondering if she shouldn’t have made a bigger batch. The evening was spent piled in bed reading. “What time did you say you had to be at the studio tomorrow?” Aisling asked. “Not until 11 am. But it’s midnight, already. Maybe we should think about going to sleep,” he answered. “I think you’re right...looks like Matt already decided to,” Alising said, noticing that his book was lying on his chest. She lifted it up carefully, marked his place, and set it on the nightstand. She shifted down to stretch out next to him with her hand up over his heart while Lee turned out the light. Suddenly she felt Lee’s arm snake under her and found herself pulled on top of him. He cradled her head in one hand and had the other splayed his other across her back. “Not too long ago, I thought this was going to be the worst Christmas for me. It’s turned out to be the best,” he said softly, running his hand under her chin, tilting her head up to kiss her gently. She fell asleep listening to his heartbeat and feeling Matt’s.

Two days later, Lee went to have another check of his ankle. Dr. Montaño was surprised and very pleased with how well it was healing. She told him he could get rid of the boot and just use an ankle support. He asked her if it was OK for him to go hiking. “As long as it’s not too strenuous and you use this brace and since your boots come up over your ankle for more support, you can.” “Good...I’ve got plans for us for New Year’s…” “Whatever you do, take it easy. That’s newly mended bone in there and the muscles and tendons are still healing, too. But I’ve seen how your girlfriend and boyfriend watch you, I’m not really worried about you overdoing it. Have fun whatever you have planned. I’ll see you in another two weeks.”

While they were having dinner that evening, Lee brought up the fact that it was almost New Year’s. “So, since I’ve had some down time, I’ve been doing a little looking around to see what we could do,” looking rather pleased with himself. “Oh, yeah,” Aisling said, laughing at him slightly, “What’s your grand plan?” “I was thinking about a little road trip up to Ojo Caliente?” “What’s that?” Matt asked. Aisling answered, “They’re hot springs up in the mountains north of Santa Fe. I haven’t been there in years.” “I figured we could go up tomorrow and stay until the 2nd.” “Sounds like you’ve done more than just think about this,” Aisling said with a smirk. “I may have already made a reservation. One of the suites that faces the cliffside. King-size bed, has its own private hot tub that fills from the springs…” “I’m sure you saw they have mud pools, too, then?” “Mud pools?” Matt asked. “Oh, yeah…” Lee said, in a tone that made it obvious that he did indeed know about the mud pools. “There’s also a lot of hiking trails around there, too,” Lee casually threw out. “Oh, no you don’t. Not yet,” Aisling said. “Yes I can. Remember when I went to the doctor’s for a check today? I asked and she said I could get rid of the boot and use a brace. And as long as I keep that on and my hiking boots come up far enough for extra support and stick to the easier trails, it’s fine.” “Oh, we’ll make sure you stick to the easy trails,” Matt said in a tone that Lee knew it would be pointless to argue with. “Sounds like a plan. What time do you want to leave?” Aisling asked. “Well, check-in isn’t until 3 pm, so I thought we could leave here about 10 and stop in Santa Fe for lunch?” “OK, sounds good to me. Since it won’t be so crowded with tourists right now, we can go to the Shed for lunch.” They spent the evening getting packed for their trip.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Aisling woke up around six the next morning and realized that neither of her boys were awake yet. She was on her back, but Lee still had his face tucked into the side of her neck, his breath softly feathering across her throat and his big hand covering her right breast. Matt was on his stomach, head turned away, but an arm draped across her hip, hand resting on her lower abdomen. She gently moved both of their hands so she could slide out from between them. She went over to the closet to grab her robe. When she turned back around, she noticed that they had grabbed each other’s hands in their sleep. She smiled, still amazed at how this had all worked out. It was unusual, sure, but it just felt right. She wandered into the bathroom to brush her teeth and then into the living room to turn the TV on to catch some news and the weather report. It looked like they were going to have good weather for their trip. Cold at night, but sunny and warm during the day. After about 15 minutes, she turned it off and went to get a shower. Aisling had just stepped into the shower when she heard the bathroom door open. Within seconds, Matt stepped in, still looking a little sleepy. But not too sleepy to grab Aisling and pull her in for a long, deep kiss. “Well, good morning,” she said breathlessly when they broke apart. “Not yet, it’s not,” he said as he turned her around and pushed her up against the wall. He leaned down and hooked one of her legs up over his arm and pushed slowly into her as he stood back up until he was buried to the hilt. Her eyes went wide at how deep he felt. He started pumping up into her and soon one hand slid around her hip and down to circle around her clit while gently nipping and sucking on her neck. Those two sensations combined with the one of the cold tile against her chest had her gasping. Soon, she felt the familiar coiling down in her pelvis. She reached behind her, fisting her hand in his hair to hold him in place while she shuddered and a long, low moan spilled out of her mouth. Feeling Aisling spasm around him ignited his release and she felt Matt pulse in her while biting down on her neck. They stood, breathing hard for a few moments, then he slid out of her, letting her foot drop back to the floor. He leaned heavily against her, still pinning her to the wall as his breathing returned to normal. “Now it’s a good morning,” he said, pushing back, pulling her under the water, kissing her again before cleaning them both up.

About 15 minutes later, they were both out and dressed. Aisling was still in the bathroom, doing her hair and make-up when Lee shuffled in, his hair sticking out in all directions. She caught sight of him in the mirror and couldn’t help laughing, “Oh, baby, come here. You look like the Medusa.” She tried combing it down with her fingers. He scowled at her, but didn’t pull away. “How does your leg feel this morning?” “What do you think? It still hurts. I’m getting tired of it hurting,” he grumbled, “Quit laughing at me.” “I’m sorry, sweetness,” putting her arms around his neck, pulling him down to kiss him softly. He growled in the back of his throat and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet as he stood up straight. He sighed, “I guess I have to get a shower alone this morning.” “How do you know we’ve both already had one?” “You weren’t exactly silent and I wasn’t exactly asleep. Just disappointed I missed out,” he buried his face in her neck and squeezed tighter, “Back in August, I had no idea this is how everything was going to work out.” “I know. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.” “I love both of you so much.” “We love you, too, baby. But I think you should get a shower so that we can make sure we’ve got everything together and hit the road.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He set her down, turning her loose except for one hand, “I don’t suppose I could interest you in another shower…?” “Sorry, nope, not today.”

By 10 am, they were ready to go. “Of course I should drive, I know where I’m going,” Aisling said, exasperated with both of them. “But we’ve got this thing called GPS now. Besides, I’ve looked at Google maps, it’s not like it’s hard to find,” Lee countered. “We’ve both managed to get ourselves places on our own before now,” Matt said. “OK, OK...fine.” “But I’m calling ‘shotgun’,” Matt said. Aisling just rolled her eyes at him, “Fine, not like I haven't seen the landscape a million times.”

A little more than an hour later, they had parked at the city lot on Water Street, just a block off the Plaza. The Shed was a block off the Plaza diagonally across. They got over there and were able to get seated immediately, which was a nice surprise. “That’s the beauty of coming up here outside of tourist season,” Aisling said, “Normally, there’d be at least an hour wait.” “So what’s good here?” Lee asked. “All of it, but I’m getting what I normally get,” Aisling answered. “What’s that?” Matt asked. “The Shedburger. With roasted green chile and cheddar.” In the end, Aisling got the Shedburger while Lee got the Green Chile Chicken Corn Chowder and Matt got the Posole. Aisling asked if they had any of the Lemon Souffle left and had their server set three aside. “We haven’t even gotten our food yet and you’re already ordering dessert?” Lee asked. “Yes, those Lemon Souffles almost always sell out. I don’t want to miss it and neither do you two.” About 45 minutes later, they were more than willing to admit that Aisling was right.

Since check-in wasn’t until 3pm, they had plenty of time to walk around the Plaza for a bit. “We need to stop at the Casa Sena Wine Shop,” Aisling said, “We need to get a bottle of something for New Year’s Eve.” “We also need to stop at that chocolate shop, too,” Lee said. “Yes, we do. We never did what we were going to do with what we got before.” Matt looked between them, “What were you going to do?” Aisling looked at him, “Let me just say that chocolate melts at body temperature.” The light dawned, “Ohhhhh…” Soon they had gotten a bottle of sparkling wine and had gone to the chocolate shop. They got a few things and also got some drinks. Since it was a nice day, they decided to sit outside on one of the benches scattered around the Plaza and give Lee’s leg a rest. Aisling sat down between them, putting her legs up over Lee’s with him wrapping one of his hands high around her thigh. Matt wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into his side. “Doesn’t look like there’s any giggling teenage girls this time,” Aisling said, looking around. “What are you talking about?” Matt asked. “We had just gotten back from here the evening you showed up,” Lee said with a sideways look. Aisling filled Matt in, “We were sitting here eating ice cream and there were three girls that we didn’t think were ever going to get up the nerve to come over. They finally did and I took a picture of the four of them together. They also took a picture of the two of us. Of course they got posted all over the internet.” “Again,” Lee said. “What was funny were all the ‘Lee’s gay, he doesn’t have a girlfriend’ comments even though that’s how he introduced me to them.” “If only they knew what was actually going on,” Matt said with a laugh. They eventually wandered back over to the car and headed up to Ojo Caliente.

They got there just after 3pm, got checked in, and got most everything unloaded into the room. “So, this hot tub out here is completely private to this suite?” Matt asked. “Yep, it’s all ours,” Lee answered, “And there's nobody on either side of us.” Aisling had opened the doors leading to the patio and hot tub and had gone out. “It’s nice now, but it’s a good thing it’s not too far from the door. It gets cold up here at night. Don’t want to freeze anyone’s parts off.” Lee had walked up behind her and wrapped her in his arms and nuzzled her neck under her ear, “Guess we’ll just have to find some way to keep warm. I was thinking we could give it a test drive after dinner.” “That sounds like a great idea,” she said, turning her head to kiss him. They both went back inside and the three of them got unpacked and had a look around the grounds before dinner. The restaurant there had one of the most eclectic menus they’d ever seen, but even so, most of it was locally sourced and it was all delicious.

After dinner, they wandered back to their suite. They realized that since the hot tub was private, they really didn’t need to take anything out with them except for towels to dry off with and robes because even though it was close to the doors, it was still cool getting out there and they'd be cold getting out. Lee had been the first one ready and had already gone out. Aisling followed a couple of minutes later. “This feels really good. I had realized how tired my leg was,” Lee said as Aisling stepped in, taking the hand that Lee offered. She sank into the water, “This is the perfect temperature, too,” she said with a sigh. “Are you ever coming out here?” Lee yelled. “Yeah, yeah...I’ll be out in a sec...just finding some music...a-ha.” With that, they heard the opening notes of the “Adagio for Strings” coming from the room. “I found the classical station,” he said, finally coming out to join them. “Nice...as long as they don’t play the ‘Sabre Dance’,” Aisling said. Matt finally joined them, pulling her over to sit between his legs. Lee narrowed his eyes at him a little. “What? You need to learn how to share. You’ve had her all to yourself since August,” Matt said. “What do you mean since August? I didn’t move in until October.” “Oh, please. I know you and I saw the pictures. You fell for her when you met her in August.” “Hey, ‘her’ is right here. And ‘share’? What are you two, twelve? Just for that, I’m not sitting with either of you,” Aisling said as she pushed away from Matt and went over to one of the unoccupied sides. They looked at each other wide-eyed when they realized she wasn’t entirely joking. “Guess we’ve been told,” Lee said. “Yeeeeah…” Matt said. Aisling just sighed, rolled her eyes, and leaned her head back on the side so they couldn’t see her smirking. She really wasn’t angry, but it was fun yanking their chains. After a couple of minutes, she looked at both of them, laughing and shaking her head, “You two are so easy to screw with,” she said as she moved back to where she’d been earlier. She leaned her head back on Matt’s shoulder and was looking up at the sky. “This is what I love about it out here. No light pollution so you can see the stars.” She suddenly found herself being moved as Matt slid over so he was in the corner and could lean back easier. Lee scooted over closer to them, “I haven’t sat and looked at the stars for a long time.” They sat in silence for a little bit. “Look,” Lee said, “the moon is just starting to rise. I think it’s full tonight, too.” “Oh, and the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ just came on,” Aisling whispered, “that is too perfect.” When neither of them answered, she turned her head to look and her breath caught at what she saw...they were kissing, with Matt’s hand under Lee’s jaw, tipping his head up. She couldn’t help but watch them, still amazed at how beautiful they were. 

Aisling was the first to move. “As lovely as this is, I am getting a little tired and think I’m going to go get dried off and go to bed.” “That does sound like a good idea,” Lee said. He stood up, “Damn, it’s gotten colder than I thought. I’m going to go light the fireplace,” wrapping a towel around his waist. Aisling got up and shivered before grabbing one of the robes, “Shit, to hell with the towel…” Matt followed her, grabbing a robe and picking up the rest of the towels, too. When they got back in there, Matt remembered they wanted to go for a hike in the morning, but realized they’d left their boots in the car. “I’m going to go bring our boots in while I’m thinking about it,” he said while pulling on a pair of sweats and the running shoes he’d been wearing earlier. “OK, be careful, it’s even darker down the hill where we parked,” Aisling said. Lee had turned on the fireplace and gone into the bathroom for something.

Aisling had walked back into the bedroom just as Lee was coming out of the bathroom with the towel still wrapped low around his hips. Even though it wasn’t an unusual sight at all, for some reason, it did something to her at this moment. She grabbed the towel, turning and pushing him down on the bed. She quickly got rid of the robe she had on and straddled him, leaning over and crushing her mouth to his. He fisted his hands in her hair, pulling her head back to look in her eyes. He was surprised by the raw hunger he saw there as he felt her lift up and impale herself on him with a growl. Lee sucked in a breath as she pushed up, bracing herself on his chest and started moving slowly up and down. His hands came up to her hips of their own accord and then slid up to cup her breasts, teasing her nipples. She leaned over to kiss him again, still moving. Neither one of them had realized that Matt had come back in. Like the towel had done to Aisling, the sight of them did something to Matt. He gently smoothed his hand down Aisling’s hip. She jumped a little, but when she turned to look at him, the same hunger was still in her eyes. She pushed back up on one hand and reached her other hand back to grab his and pulled him closer. He looked at her with a question in his eyes as he captured her mouth in a searing kiss. She nodded. “Are you sure?” he asked out loud this time. “Yes, goddamnit. Now.” He quickly kicked off his shoes and yanked off his sweats. Then he reached over to the nightstand for the tube of aloe gel. _“Glad I threw this in,_ ” he thought to himself. He gently pushed her down so that she was flush against Lee’s chest, who immediately attached his mouth where her shoulder and neck joined, sucking lightly. Matt squeezed some gel out, closed the tube, and tossed it aside. He let it warm in his hand before smoothing it between Aisling’s already spread cheeks. He lightly pushed his thumb into her puckered entrance, she groaned, but not in pain. “Quit playing around. I want you now,” she demanded. Matt got up on his knees and positioned himself behind her, lining himself up. He pushed in a little and stopped to let her adjust. “Are you OK?” “I’m fine...quit teasing me” she gasped, while Lee continued sucking on her neck and rocking slightly to keep the friction going on her clit. Matt complied and kept pushing until he was buried to the hilt. He stilled again, until Aisling made a frustrated noise. Then he pulled out slightly and pushed back in just as slowly a few times. When he was sure he wasn’t hurting her, he started moving a little faster and Lee took the cue to start moving more, too. “Oh my god,” Aisling groaned, “Faster,” she demanded. They did and within a couple of minutes she could feel a coiling down in her pelvis like nothing she had felt before. Suddenly she pushed up on her hands on either side of Lee’s head, threw her head back, gasping, eyes going wide, she stilled for a moment. Then broke around both Matt and Lee, shuddering, her back bowing, “Oh...god…” coming out of her mouth as a groan. Neither of them could hold back feeling her contracting around them like she was and both emptied all they had into her. Which caused her to cry out again. Suddenly, she dropped her weight down onto Lee’s chest. His hand came up, smoothing her hair off her face and pulling her head back to look at her face. Matt dropped on her back, causing a slight grunt from Lee because of the sudden extra weight. “Are you OK, sweetheart?” Lee asked, a little concerned because she was breathing hard, they all were, but she hadn’t opened her eyes yet. Her breathing started slowing, but she still didn’t open her eyes, “I’m...I don’t have any words…” She finally opened her eyes and he was relieved there was nothing but a deep contentment and love there. “But I am feeling a little squashed right now,” slightly pushing her hips up. “Sorry,” Matt whispered, lifting up and softly trailing his fingers down her spine as he slowly withdrew from her. Lee slid out at the same time. He knew though if she didn’t move soon, her hips would cramp. But other than a deep breath, she didn’t seem inclined to. Matt had the same thought and took her gently by the waist and pulled her off Lee and made her straighten her legs out before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close into him. “But are you OK? I didn’t hurt you?” he said quietly in her ear. She turned to look at him, reaching up to grab his jaw, “I am _fine_. I’d say if I wasn’t. That was just...mind-blowing is the only term I can come up with, but that doesn’t even cover it.” She turned loose and stretched slightly, yawning, rolling into Lee’s side, and closing her eyes. He brought his arm down around her, “I think maybe it’s time we got some sleep.” “That’s what I’m trying to do if you’d shut up.” “You gotta move though, babe. It’s too cold to sleep on top of the covers.” All he got in response was a grumble and a little shiver. “I’ll get her, you get the blankets,” Matt said, sliding his hands under her to pick her up. Within a minute he had her shifted and laid down next to her. She immediately rolled and snuggled into him. Lee settled behind her, pulling the covers up over all of them. “Love you,” Aisling mumbled. “Who are you talking to?” Matt asked. “Both of you. Now shut up and let me go to sleep.”

Aisling woke up around dawn the next morning. She laid there for a few moments. It was quiet and she could hear the birds singing outside. Surprisingly, only Lee’s arm was across her waist and she was able to move it without disturbing him and slid out from the bed. She headed into the bathroom, grabbed her shampoo and conditioner and walked around into the shower enclosure. The water warmed up amazingly fast and she had just tipped her head back to wet her hair with her eyes closed when suddenly the water was blocked and two arms wrapped around her from behind, pulling her in close. She already knew who it was, “Lee, what are you doing?” “Just making sure you’re OK,” voice sounding scratchy with a vaguely cranky tone as usual. “I’m fine. Would you quit asking me that?” “Sorry. I think it’s just that it’s so new to all of us but it feels...right?” “Yes it does...and ‘Clair de Lune’ is going to hold special meaning from now on.” “What do you mean?” “It was on the radio last night.” “How did you manage to notice _that_ with everything else?” he asked with a look of consternation. “I don’t know, it just got into my subconscious somehow. Now can I get back to getting washed up?” “Only if you let me wash your hair.” “Only if you promise to behave for once.” He turned her around, “Deal...now we have to seal the deal with a kiss,” which he proceeded to do. “I think you’re supposed to seal the deal with a handshake,” she said when they finally broke apart. “You may be right about that...but I think I prefer my way.” He was as good as his word and washed her hair with a minimum of wandering hands. They were out, dried off, and getting dressed about 15 minutes later. Matt was just waking up when Aisling sat down on the side of the bed to lace up her boots. “Are you going to sleep all day, or are you coming out exploring with us?” she asked him. “I’m coming with you. Just give me a bit to wake up and take a shower.” “We’ll head over to the gate house and bring back some breakfast while you’re doing that,” Lee said. That’s when Matt noticed they were both already dressed. “You mean he’s up before me?” he looked at Aisling in surprise. “He was hardly cranky at all when he interrupted my shower.” “‘Interrupted’ you? Yeah I know how he ‘interrupts’ things.” “Don’t get too jealous. All he did was kiss me ‘good morning’.” “Speaking of, where’s mine?” he asked, grabbing her arm and pulling her down to kiss her. “You two need to stop before I strip our clothes off and keep us in bed all day,” Lee said, looking up from tying his boots. They broke apart and Aisling said, “Nice try, but I’m starving. Which is entirely the fault of both of you.” “But you’re OK?” Matt asked her. “You two really need to quit asking me that. I’m fine! Except, as I said, I’m starving. Now I’m heading over to the gate house and getting something.” “Want us to bring you back anything?” Lee asked Matt. “Whatever looks good.”

30 minutes later, they were ready to head out. “There’s a bunch of trails out here, including down by the river. Which one do we want to take?” Ailsing said, looking at a map of them. “How about this one that goes around behind the cliffs here?” Lee said, pointing to a particular trail on the map. “That looks good,” Matt said leaning over Aisling’s shoulder. “It’s long and it’s a loop.” “OK, that’s it,” Aisling said, taking another look to make sure they had enough water. At one point they stopped for a few minutes. “It wide open spaces out here,” Matt said, amazed at the view. “You can see a long way, but it’s not the unending flat that you get in the Midwest,” Aisling said, “You should see it in the summer with the thunderstorms rolling across.” They got back around 1pm and decided to go over to Havana Bay for some Cuban sandwiches for lunch. Since it was a nice day and plenty warm enough out on the patio by the hot tub because of the walls enclosing it, they just spent the afternoon lounging around out there. That evening, they took the short walk to a steakhouse and brewery for dinner. While they were eating, Aisling had an idea. “What about driving over to Taos tomorrow? It’s only about an hour.” “That actually sounds like a great idea,” Matt said, “I know neither of us have ever been there.” “It’s been years since I’ve been there, too.” It wasn’t late when they got back to their room, but they were all somewhat tired and turned in early.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The next morning, Matt was the first one up. He was in the shower when Lee wandered in with his usual scowl. He rubbed his face, still trying to wake up. Matt shook his head and smiled. “What are you laughing at?” “Nothing. Just still find it funny how pissy you are in the mornings.” “I think it’s funny, too,” Aisling said as she came in. “I can’t help it.” “I know, sweetness,” Aisling said, pulling him down for a kiss. He didn’t resist. “Better?” He just grumbled, but there was a hint of a smile there. Within an hour, they were headed to Taos, stopping in the gate house to get some drinks and something to eat to take with them. They decided to take a little bit of a side trip and go to the Pueblo and spent about an hour there. It amazed Lee and Matt that it was over 1000 years old. “That’s older than anything I’ve ever seen on the east coast,” Lee said. “I know,” Aisling said, “We might be new as a state, but we’re old as a culture. Santa Fe has been around since 1607.” After taking a few pictures since the Pueblo did allow photography for personal use, they headed on into Taos. Soon they were walking around the plaza. “I don’t know about you two, but I could use some lunch,” Lee said. “Yeah, I’m getting hungry, too,” Aisling said. “So where’s good to eat here?” Matt asked. “It’s been a while since I’ve been up here, but one place I know is still here and is really good is Doc Martin’s” Even though Taos was a big tourist draw, they didn’t have to wait for a table and had their meals fairly quick. After they ate, they spent another couple of hours exploring and looking at art galleries. They headed back to Ojo Caliente, stopping on the way out of Taos to pick up some snacks to keep in the room. 

“I’m not exactly hungry for a big meal tonight,” Lee said when they got back to their room, “How about we just pile up in bed and watch some movies?” “Sounds like a great idea to me,” Aisling said. Soon they’d all changed and were piled up in bed trying to find something to watch. “Why don’t we let Matt pick,” Aisling said giggling. Lee looked at her in puzzlement and then the light dawned, “Oh yeah, his thing about romantic comedies!” “You’re both laughing at me, but you watch the movies, too.” “That’s true…” Lee said, “Go ahead, we’ll let you pick.” Which is how they wound up watching “Falling Inn Love” that neither Matt or Lee were too happy that Aisling found the male lead rather attractive. “Are you two seriously jealous? You do realize that regardless of anyone else, I’m always going to go home with you two? Now let’s find another movie.” “No more romantic comedies,” Lee said, “Let’s find an action movie...Oh, here’s one I wanted to see…’Angel Has Fallen’.” “OK, sure let’s watch it,” Aisling said with a smirk neither of them could see...she loved Gerard Butler. Lee pulled her over close to him with an arm around her. Matt had grabbed one of the pillows and was laying across her legs. It didn’t take too long for Lee to figure out her thing for Gerard and he started trying to cover her eyes whenever he was on-screen. Matt had no idea anything was going on until Aisling started laughing, “Would you stop it?” at Lee. “What is going on?” he asked, turning around. “Someone failed to mention that she likes Gerard Butler when I pulled this up,” Lee said, once more covering her eyes. “Maybe we should pick a different movie. I’m not liking this either.” “Would you two stop? It’s not as if I’m ever going to meet him.” “You never thought you’d meet me either and look where we are?” “That’s true, but even though he’s nice to look at, I’d never want to go home with him. Now can we shut up and watch the movie?” Since they had no plans to be up early the next day since it was New Year’s Eve, they started looking for another movie. It took awhile because of the guys trying to pick one without anyone they thought Aisling might like in it. She found it hilarious. “What about ‘Dr. Strange’?” “Yeah, no. Nice try. That has Benedict Cumberbatch,” Lee said. “Yes it does. He made a good ‘Sherlock Holmes’, but I don’t think he’s hot.” “I don’t know...think we should trust her?” Lee asked Matt. “Sure. Besides, if we think she does like him, we have ways to distract her.” “Oh my god…” Aisling said, rolling her eyes, exasperated with both of them.

About halfway through, Matt and Aisling had fallen asleep. Lee was getting tired as well. He turned off the TV and shut the lights, leaving the fireplace lit. He still had his arm around Aisling, she had turned into him a little more and had her hand up around the back of his neck with her hand tangled in his hair. He put his other arm around her hugging her tight and kissing her head. Matt had moved from where he had been laying across Aisling’s legs. He halfway woke up, slid over close behind Aisling and reached an arm around both of them and went back to sleep. Lee laid there for a while, watching the fire and still amazed at how this had all worked out. Finally he drifted off to sleep as well.

The next morning, Matt woke up first and slid out from under Aisling’s arm. He pulled on some sweats and running shoes. “What are you doing?” he heard Lee ask softly, not wanting to wake Aisling yet. “I thought I’d go for a run and stop and pick us up some breakfast from the gate house. I’ll be back in about an hour.” “Have fun. I'm staying here where it’s warm and comfortable.” Matt walked back over to the bed and kissed both of them and left. Lee snuggled back down around Aisling. “Did I hear him say he’s going for a run?” she asked sleepily. “Yes...and he’s going to grab us some breakfast.” “So he’s not going to be back for a while.” “No. Why?” “Nothing, but I think I am going to go get a shower,” she said, starting to move his arm from around her waist to slide out of bed. He tightened it, not letting her out, “Not just yet, you’re not.” “Oh, no? Why not?” “Because I haven’t had you all to myself for a while.” Crushing his mouth on hers, pushing his way into her mouth while rolling her onto her back and settling between her legs. He slowly moved down her neck, nipping and kissing along the way, moving down further, stopping to take each breast in his mouth, teasing them both to hard peaks. Then he continued his nipping and kissing down her stomach, stopping briefly to swirl his tongue in her belly button causing her to gasp. Aisling was intensely aroused by this point and started pushing on his head to get him lower. Lee continued to her lower abdomen, but right when she thought she was going to get what she wanted, he shifted even lower and started working his way up the inside of one leg. She made a noise of frustration. “Patience,” he whispered as he continued his path up. When he got to her upper thigh, she made a grab for his hair to try to force his mouth where she wanted it. But he was expecting it and grabbed her hands first, “No you don’t,” moving out of her reach so that he could do the same to her other leg. She was having a harder time staying still. He got to her upper thigh again, pushing one leg out to open her to him. He finally closed his mouth over where she wanted him, teasing the tight little bundle of nerves and sucking hard. Her hands fisted in his hair, holding him in place. He wrapped one arm around her leg to keep her open while sliding two fingers from his other hand into her, moving slowly. Aisling pulled on his hair hard, knowing it was the only way to get him to speed up. He did, crooked his fingers, and within seconds, she was crying out with her back arching up off the bed, her arms reaching out, hands fisting in the bed covers. The spasms had hardly started to subside when Lee pulled his fingers out, pulled her down, and filled her. “Oh...fuck...you feel so good, babe,” he groaned as her body clenched around his. He pushed one leg up around his hip and started moving hard into her. A sudden gasp told him he’d hit a sensitive spot and held her there. Soon she could feel the coiling down in her pelvis building again. One hand went around the back of his head to pull him down to hers, forcing her way into his mouth with a growl. He thrusted one more time and she was arching up off the bed again as she felt him suddenly jerk and pulse in her with her name spilling out of his mouth. Lee slid out and dropped onto Aisling, burying his face in her neck, both of them gasping, waiting for the aftershocks to subside. “Now you can go get a shower,” he mumbled. She laughed, “I think we both need one now.” They laid there for a few more minutes.

Matt was back not long after they had finally gotten up and taken a shower. “Oh, finally,” Aisling said, “I’m starving,” she said when he came in the door. “So am I,” Lee chimed in. He looked at both of them, “Mm-hmmm…I think I missed out on something.” “What did you bring,” Aisling said changing the subject, “and what do we want to do today?” “I think we should just take the day to lounge around here,” Lee said. “It’s a nice day, the walls will warm it up out on the patio, and there are three chaises out there. We’ve got plenty of snacks and wine.” “That sounds like a perfect idea. Maybe take a nap this afternoon since we’re going to be up late,” Matt said. They did spend most of the day taking it easy, but did go for a walk in the late afternoon. When they got back, Matt opened a bottle of wine and Aisling got some of the fruit and other things they had stashed in mini-fridge. “I know it’s cheesy and it’s way early, but I’d kind of like to watch the NY New Year’s Eve show they televise every year,” Lee said. “It is, but why not?” Aisling said, “We can watch them drop the ball and then we can have our own celebration. I was kind of thinking of having it out in the hot tub,” she said with a suggestive look at both of them.

The early evening was spent piled on the bed, channel surfing until the New Year’s Eve show came on. “It looks like they do a separate countdown for each time zone. So we can watch the ones for Eastern and Central and then we can turn it up for Mountain so we can hear it outside,” Lee said. Luckily, it was basically one continuous concert and not a repeat of the same hour three times. Around 11:30, Aisling went into the bathroom, came back out with a robe on, walked by saying, “If either of you want me, I’ll be out in the hot tub.” Lee and Matt looked at each other. “I’ll get the glasses,” Matt said. “I’ll get the sparkling wine,” Lee said. Within minutes, they had the wine open and had joined Aisling out in the hot tub. “Well, now I know how to get you two moving,” she said laughing. Lee grabbed her and pulled her to sit between his legs in the corner, “You warm, naked, and wet? What do you expect, minx?” he said nuzzling her neck just below her ear, one hand coming up to cover a breast, kneading it softly. “Is she always like this,” Matt asked. “Again, ‘she’ is right here and what do you mean by ‘like this’?” “Sorry..being a tease.” “I’m not teasing you, babe. I’m right here. You just have to come over here.” Matt took her and Lee’s glasses, set them on the side, and moved over in between her legs, leaning forward to kiss her. She sucked on his bottom lip as he pulled away. Lee’s other hand came up behind Matt’s neck to pull him to kiss him, too. “Hey, as hot as you two are, I’m feeling a little left out,” Aisling said. “Sorry, little one,” Lee said, tipping her head up to kiss her, his tongue plundering her mouth as she felt both of his hands come up to her breasts to tease her nipples to hard peaks. Matt was running his hands up and down her thighs and teasing between her legs. He watched them as long as he could stand before lifting her legs so they were spread over Lee’s. He then moved in a little closer, teasing her a little before pushing two fingers into her core, moving in and out slowly. She gasped into Lee’s mouth. Matt continued for a bit, then pulled them out. “What are you doing?” Aisling whined, which suddenly turned into a moan when he replaced his fingers with his shaft. He started moving slowly, almost removing himself, before burying himself again. Lee was still massaging her breasts. She leaned her head back to pant into Lee’s ear, “I need you in me now.” “Are you sure?” “Yes…” Matt had heard and lifted her up a little so that Lee could shift and he slowly pushed into her. Aisling hissed. Lee stilled, “Am I hurting you, sweetheart?” “I’m fine. It’s just such a different sensation than the other night. Keep going.” He continued until he was fully sheathed. They both stilled. “What are you two waiting for?” She ground her hips, trying to get them moving again. They took her cue and started moving in her. Lee returned his hands to her breasts while Matt moved one hand in between him and Aisling to press on her clit. The air surrounding them was filled with soft moans and sighs and groans of three people in love. Soon, Aisling felt that same coiling that she had felt the first time. She was a little more prepared for how overwhelming it was. Lee could feel she was close and wrapped one arm around her waist while moving the other around to her back. Matt could tell she was close too and grabbed her hand, squeezing, “Let go, we’ve got you.” That was all she needed. She arched into Matt, convulsing around them. Neither one of them could hold back this time and released themselves deep within her. “Oh...my god…” Aisling said, gasping, collapsing back onto Lee while they both slowly slid out of her, his arms coming around her. “Are…” Lee started to ask. “If you ask me again if I’m OK, you’re not going to be,” Aisling said, cutting him off. She turned his face to hers and kissed him. “You, too,” she said, looking at Matt and pulling him over for a kiss as well. They sat in silence for a bit, then became aware of the TV again. They were just starting the 30 second countdown to midnight. “That was good timing,” Aisling laughed. Lee looked at Matt, “Hand us those glasses of wine.” They all had their glasses just as they heard “ten nine eight” coming from the TV and joined in counting down. As it hit midnight, they clinked their glasses and emptied them. Aisling kissed Lee and then Matt again. “I don’t know how this next year is going to top the last four months,” Lee said, pulling them both in for another kiss. “Even though this is heated, I’m getting a little cold,” Aisling said with a shiver. “Oh, we can’t have that,” Lee said, standing up and taking her with him. He stepped out, followed by Matt, carrying her in. “I _can_ walk,” she said. “I know, but I already had you in my arms,” Lee said, setting her down. “I say we get dried off and warm up in bed. I’ll light the fireplace, too,” Matt said as he also closed the door to the patio. Within minutes, they were in bed and warm. Matt had already fallen asleep, but Lee and Aisling were still awake. “You know, in August, I didn’t know when, or if, I was ever going to be happy again, then I met you.” “I had no idea this would happen either. I was just volunteering to get to go to the convention. Now go to sleep, sweetness.” She snuggled into his side more, placing her hand up over his heart and listened to him breathing and could hear it slow and even out. She was pretty sure he was out and she almost was, too, when she heard a very soft, “I love both of you more than anything.” She smiled and did fall asleep then.

Much later in the morning, Aisling woke up. For once, she was actually tucked in under Lee's chin. She could tell that his arm was under her neck, but their legs were so tangled that she wasn't too sure where hers were. She tried moving her right one slightly, which resulted in a soft grumble she could feel in Lee’s throat. She smiled and pulled her head back to look at him. She couldn't resist trying to smooth the line between his eyebrows with her thumb. From the noise he made, she knew he wasn't asleep. Matt was on his stomach and Aisling realized one hand was resting on her ribcage when it twitched a little. She stopped rubbing and Lee whined softly. She ran her thumb over the line again, across his eyebrow, and those devastating eyelashes. She continued down his cheek, under his jaw, and ran her thumb lightly across his lips. He opened his mouth to close around her thumb, sucking lightly. When she pulled her thumb out, there was another slight whine in the back of his throat. “Shh…stop that…” she whispered, reaching around behind his head to pull him in for a soft kiss. Lee’s other hand was resting on her hip and he slid it down across her lower back while bending the arm that was under her neck, to pull her in closer with a soft growl this time. Then he rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him at the same time. He kept one arm up around her shoulders, holding her tightly, while trailing his other hand up and down her spine. She shivered a bit and ran her fingers lightly down his sides and then up under his shoulders. Lee’s hand came up and tipped Aisling’s head back to kiss her softly, gently running his tongue over her bottom lip but then becoming more insistent for entrance. Her lips parted willingly, allowing him full access. A couple of minutes later they broke apart to catch their breath. Aisling looked at the clock, “You know we’re going to have to get up sometime,” she whispered, rubbing her mouth across the notch at the base of Lee’s throat, then placing some soft kisses along his collarbone. He slid his arms down a little and then pulled her up a little farther and buried his face in her neck with another growl, tightening his arms around her again. “You’re going to have to use your words at some point, sweetness,” she said softly, kissing under his ear. “What are you two whispering about?” they heard Matt ask. “That we need to get up soon. Actually, I’m the only one whispering, someone else is just growling and whining,” Aisling answered. That resulted in a huff in her ear. Matt trailed his fingers up her hip and side and then up Lee’s arm, too. She could feel Lee shift a little away from Matt’s hand, but figured it was just because it tickled a little. “Why do we need to get up?” Matt asked. “In case you two forgot, we’re going over to the mud pool today. It’s already going to be 10.” “Oh, yeah. The mud pool,” Matt said, running his hand back down Lee’s arm and coming to rest on the curve of Aisling’s backside. “Get you thoroughly dirty and then we’ll just have to clean you off somehow,” squeezing slightly. She pulled her arms out from under Lee and tried to push up, but he wouldn’t turn loose. “Come on, babe, let me up,” she said a little more firmly. He grumbled a little, then turned loose only to grab her head and pull her in for a kiss. He didn't give her a chance to respond before pushing into her mouth. She was a little surprised at the possessiveness she could feel coming from him. He finally released her and saw that his eyes were finally open. There was a look in them she couldn't quite place before it was gone. "Now you can get up," he rasped. “I’m going to go put on my bikini,” she said, sliding off him and the bed and headed into the bathroom. He rolled back onto his side, facing Matt.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Matt said, moving over closer to Lee, who was still scowling. He ran his hand down the side of Lee’s face and around the back of his head, pulling him closer to softly kiss him. Lee resisted at first, but finally gave in with a sigh. In a couple of minutes, Matt broke away, “Some things never change.” “What do you mean?” Lee asked with a glare. “You being the bitchiest thing ever when you first wake up.” “Well, excuse the hell out of me…” “No. I still think it’s adorable,” and kissed him again. Aisling came back into the bedroom wearing a t-shirt over her bikini, “Are you two going to lay there making out all morning?” “You could come back to bed and join us,” Matt said. “Oh, no you don’t. I really want to check out that mud pool. Which means I’ll be getting all the mud off by myself…” she said and walked off back into the bathroom. “Guess that means we need to get up,” Lee said as the both stared after her, “There’s places she won’t be able to reach.” 

An hour later the boys had finally found their swim trunks, gotten something to eat, and headed over to the mud pool. “I thought this was going to be a huge pit full of mud,” Lee said. “Nope. It’s not like the squishy, sticky mud you get out in the garden. It’s more liquid. Get it out of the tap, rub it in all over your body, and then lay in the sun until it dries,” Aisling said, stripping her t-shirt off, revealing the bikini she was wearing. It was turquoise and both the top and bottom had asymmetrical cut-outs. Matt and Lee both stopped and stared at her. “What’s wrong?” she asked looking down. “Nothing, you just look gorgeous babe.” She walked over towards the fountain-looking fixture. “So I guess you get in the pool to get it off then?” Matt said as he walked over and stopped in front of Aisling, “You look like you need some help getting your back,” he said, getting some mud in his hands and wrapping his arms around her and smoothing it down her back. “She’s not the only one that needs help,” Lee said coming up behind Matt and dumping some down his back, too. He jumped, turned around and said, “Oh yeah?” and got some more and smacked Lee in the middle of his chest. Aisling just stared at them and muttered, “Boys!” to herself, shaking her head, and went to find a chaise to lay on, leaving the guys to their mud fight. Soon enough, they both took up one on either side of her. “I was thinking I should have brought a book,” Lee said, but this is nice just laying here in the sun.” “You need to relax as much as possible, too,” Aisling said. “I’m sure you’re going to be going back to work in a couple of days.” “I’m kind of surprised that I haven’t heard when they want all of us back.” “Just don’t let them push you on your ankle,” Matt said. “OK, mom, I won’t.” Neither of them could see, but they were pretty sure he was rolling his eyes.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Some time later, Aisling had been dozing, but decided that she was ready to get the mud off. She got up and walked over to the pool and stepped down into it. She walked out to the middle where it was about mid-chest high on her and slipped down under the water to get what mud there was out of her hair somewhat. She surfaced, tipping her head back to keep her hair out of her face and she had her back to where Matt and Lee were. She suddenly found someone wrapping their arms around her. “You look like a fucking mermaid coming up out of the water like that,” Matt said, turning her around. He picked her up around her hips and walked to the deeper end of the pool, pinning her up against the side. “You know this isn’t really fair,” she said. “Why not?” he asked, looking in her eyes. “You’ve got your feet on the bottom where you know I can’t touch.” “Too bad,” he whispered as he crashed his lips onto hers and she could feel him hard up against her stomach. She brought one of her feet up against the wall and pushed off, sending them away from the wall. She was on top of him and had to wriggle maybe a little more than was necessary to stay there. “Now I know why Lee calls you ‘minx’,” he said with a groan. She just smiled at him, “Speaking of, maybe we should see if he’s awake and get the mud off him before he burns through it.” “Yeah, that would be super uncomfortable under those costumes.” “He’s not asleep,” they both heard and turned to see him sitting on the side of the pool. Aisling thought she saw that look cross his face again, but it was so fleeting she wasn’t sure. “Well, come on in then,” she said, pushing off of Matt towards Lee. She grabbed his foot and pulled. He dropped down in the water, wrapped an arm around her waist while standing up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, “Do you need help getting the mud off?” trying her best to look innocent. “No, I don’t need your ‘help’. I know when you’re up to something, minx.” They both laughed. “What?” he asked, looking confused. “Matt was just saying that he knows now why you sometimes call me that.” “Uh-huh,” he said, turning loose of her so that he could duck under the water too to get the mud off. “We’re probably still going to need to shower off when we get back to the room to get all the mud off,” Aisling said when he came back up. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Maybe think about packing up, too. Regardless when I have to go back to work, check-out is 11 tomorrow morning.” “Maybe we should do some takeout from the restaurant for dinner tonight, too,” Matt said. Aisling and Lee thought that sounded like a good idea.

They got as much mud as they could off in the pool and were back in their suite 30 minutes later. “I’m going to go jump in the shower and get the mud out of places it should not be and wash my hair,” Aisling said, heading into the bathroom. “I’ll be there in a minute” Lee said, “You coming?” he asked Matt. “Actually, I’m going to go take a few things out to the car now so we don’t forget them. I’ll get one in a bit.” Aisling was already getting her hair wet when Lee stepped in, “What do you think you’re doing?” “Umm...washing my hair?” “Well, stop. That’s my job,” he said, turning her around. He also proceeded to get all the mud off of her while she did the same with him. They came out of the bathroom just as Matt was coming back in. “OK, my turn.”

“Guess we should get dried off and throw on some clothes so we can go get something for dinner?” Aisling said. “Yes...we should…” He pulled her to him and turned her around to dry her hair, while nuzzling her neck. “Now it’s my turn to ask what do you think you’re doing?” “Well, we’ve got a few minutes until Matt is out…” as he turned her around again. He tipped her head back and kissed her deeply while walking her backwards until her legs hit the edge of the bed. He gently pushed her down, while wedging a leg in between hers. She could feel his hard length against her thigh. She shifted her other leg a little so that he settled between them, the tip of his shaft brushing against her folds. Aisling lifted her hips a bit in invitation and Lee slid in, both of them sighing. He started moving slowly, pushing her left leg up to allow him to hit deeper. She gasped a little. Soon they both heard Matt ask, “Is this just a private party for two or can anyone join in?” Lee turned his head and looked at him, “You really think you need to ask?” he whispered. With that, Matt grabbed the tube of aloe, squeezing some into his hand. He then pushed Lee’s legs apart and smoothed the warmed gel down in between his cheeks, while lining himself up. He slowly pushed into Lee, sighing himself when he was fully sheathed. He let Lee adjust and then started moving slowly. Lee soon started moving in Aisling again. She reached up, grabbing one of Matt’s hands, pulling on it. He leaned down over Lee’s shoulder to kiss her. He pushed back up, keeping hold on her hand and she found the sensitive place on Lee’s neck below his ear, sucking gently while pulling on his hair. Which he knew meant she wanted him to speed up, Matt picked up on it, too, and also sped up. Within minutes, Matt could feel Aisling’s hand tighten on his. Suddenly, she was crying out, her back arching up enough to change the angle that Matt was hitting in Lee. He could feel Lee’s rhythm stutter and heard a deep groan which pushed him over the edge also. As soon as he caught his breath, he slid out of Lee and dropped to the side, still holding Aisling’s hand. Lee pushed up and rolled onto his back, taking her with him.

They laid there for a few minutes. “We still need to put some clothes on and go get something for dinner,” Lee said. “But I’m comfortable right here.” Aisling mumbled into his chest. “Yeah, we’ve got plenty of time. It’s only about 1:30 now,” Matt said. “But if we get up now and get packed, then we can go bring dinner back here, find some movies with only unattractive males stars to watch, and just take it easy the rest of the day,” Lee said. “OK, fine,” Matt said with a sigh, sliding off the bed and grabbed some jeans and went to find a shirt to put on. Aisling kissed Lee’s throat again and pushed up off of him and went to get dressed as well. A couple minutes later, she came back over to the bed, “There’s also a lot of this we could get packed into the car this afternoon. That’s if you would get your ass moving and at least put some clothes on,” she said, smacking his leg. “But it really is comfortable right here.” She leaned over to grab his hand and pulled, “Come on, let’s go…”

By about 4pm they had everything packed and in the car that they didn’t need that evening and walked over to the restaurant to see what they had on the menu for carry-out. They put in an order for 3 green chile-cheeseburgers and hand-cut sweet potato fries and some fresh made gelato for dessert. The wait for it was about 30 minutes so they found a place that was still getting some late afternoon sun. Even though there was plenty of room for all of them to sit, Lee still took the opportunity to sit down and pull Aisling down onto his lap. “Remember me doing this about a hot minute after we met?” “You did _what_?” Matt asked, sounding a little surprised. “It was that Friday of the Comic Expo. There was dancing on the floor, but there was only one chair open after we got some drinks. I took a chance, sat down, and pulled her down onto my lap.” “Really? You’re usually more shy than that.” “It really wasn’t that surprising,” Aisling said, “That was after I literally pulled him out onto the dance floor and got him to dance.” “How did you do that?” Matt asked. “He overthinks it. So I distracted him. Then I made him stay out for a slower song. He figured it out on his own after that.” “That Janet Jackson song kind of helped,” Lee said, lifting her hair to kiss her neck. “I didn’t realize you’d been watching that,” she said turning a little red. “What song was it?” “‘If’...I was dancing with someone and if you’ve ever seen that video...” “Damn, no wonder you were able to get him out there. We’ll have to take you out dancing sometime. I’ve got to see this for myself.” “Ha ha. You’re so funny,” Lee said, rolling his eyes at Matt.

When they got back to the suite, Lee saw that the alert on his phone was flashing. He opened it up and read the text. “Good thing we’re going back tomorrow. They want me back on the 3rd at 9am.” “Any idea how long they’re going to go?” Aisling asked. “Nope. But I think it’s going to be a lot of long days from now on.” “Just don’t let them push you on your leg. That’s still not completely healed.” “I promise I won’t.” Aisling and Matt looked at each other doubtfully. They knew how he was. He didn’t want to be perceived as a “difficult” actor. Aisling had had a talk with the producers when she had gone to the studios to see how the accident happened. She had guarantees from them they wouldn’t push him when he came back. It had only now been a month-and-a-half since the accident. But she also knew him that he wouldn’t say when he needed a rest and would push it. There was something that Lee realized he needed out of the car and went to get it. While he was gone, Matt and Aisling were talking about how to make sure he didn’t push it. “We’re going to have a problem with him when it gets to battle scenes,” Matt said. “I know,” Aisling answered with a sigh. “Maybe one of us should go when they get to those to make sure…” she stopped talking as Lee came back in. “Make sure what?” he asked. “Oh, nothing. Just saying we should take another look around to make sure we don’t forget anything.” Aisling said...a little too quickly it seemed to Lee and narrowed his eyes at her. “Hey, why don’t we eat and then get comfortable?” she said, turning and walking over to the small area where the fridge was stashed. He let it drop, but he knew they’d been talking about him. 

The awkward moment was forgotten as they ate dinner and found something to watch that the guys wouldn’t get jealous over. Aisling couldn’t help laughing at them, it really was too cute. They finally settled on the classic “I Was A Male War Bride”. They weren’t too worried about her liking Cary Grant since the man had been dead for over 30 years. “I think he might be a better looking woman than you,” Matt said laughing. Lee raised the arm he’d had draped around Aisling and flicked Matt on the ear. “Ow!” “Hey, don’t get mad at Matt because you know you’re jealous of the horse tail wig…” Aisling laughed at him. “Couple of smartasses you two are.” “Yes, and you’re just as bad. It’s still early. How about we watch ‘An Affair To Remember’?” “I haven’t seen that in ages,” Matt said. At the end Aisling was sniffling a little, “I’ve seen this movie a hundred times, but it just gets to me sometimes.” “Which is absolutely adorable,” Lee said, rolling onto his side to face her. “But now I think we should go to sleep. We don’t need to be out until 11, but I’d rather not be rushing, either,” kissing her softly. “Not a bad idea,” Matt said reaching over to turn out the light and moving in close behind Aisling, kissing the back of her neck. 

They were up and out early the next morning, stopping at the gate house to grab some breakfast and were back at their place before noon. While they were unpacking, Lee’s phone went off. “It’s the studio. Strange that they’re calling when I’m going to be there tomorrow morning.” He wandered off into the office to talk to them. “You what?!” Matt and Aisling heard him say loudly, looking at each other in surprise. They couldn’t hear what he was saying, but they could hear his tone. It wasn’t often that either of them had ever heard anger from him. Aisling went to see what was going on, walking into the office to hear him snap, “Yeah...fine...I’ll be there.” He hung up and stood there glaring at his phone. “Babe, what happened?” “You know how they said they wanted everyone back tomorrow?” “Yeah…?” “Well, they decided they would prefer to do an overnight shoot...tonight!” “Are you serious?!” “Serious about what?” Matt said, stopping in the doorway. Aisling turned around, “They want him there for an overnight shoot tonight. What time?” she asked, turning back around to Lee. “Originally, they wanted me there at 4pm.” “Are you kidding me? It’s almost one now,” Matt said. “Yeah, well, I got them to walk it back to six.” “I’d tell you to go lay down for a while, but I think we both know that would be pointless,” Aisling said. “This is just such bullshit…” Lee huffed, hands on his hips. “I know baby,” Aisling said, walking over to him, putting her arms through his and hugging him, “We at least need to get you something to eat. What do you want? There’s not much in the fridge, but I can see what’s in the freezer, or run to the store.” “I don’t know…but I guess I better get my stuff together,” he said as his arms came around her and tightened. Then he turned loose, grabbed his bag, and started putting some stuff in it. Aisling knew it was just better to let him be for a bit and headed into the kitchen where Matt had gone. He was digging around in the freezer, then he slammed the door closed, “I can’t fucking believe this. Why couldn’t they have put it off until tomorrow. They know damn well his ankle isn’t 100% and that we were out of town until today.” “I know. I don’t get it either. But I’m keeping an eye on them. If I even _think_ they’re pushing him, they’re going to have me to deal with.” “I still don’t ever want to be on your bad side,” Aisling heard from behind her. “Don’t you forget it,” she said, turning around, “Now we need to get you something to eat.” 

They got Lee something to eat and out the door by 5pm. Matt and Aisling spent the evening finishing unpacking and doing some laundry. They were both startled awake by Lee crashing onto the bed next to Aisling about 5am. “Long night sweetness?” Aisling asked. He mumbled something into the pillow then pushed up off the bed and stripped off his clothes. Aisling moved and Lee dropped down on the bed again between her and Matt. He turned on his side and Aisling wound her arm up around his back while Matt snuggled in behind him. “I am so tired,” Lee groaned. “Then go to sleep, babe,” Matt whispered in his ear, wrapping his arm around Lee’s shoulders. He was out in seconds. “That didn’t take long,” Matt whispered. She pulled her arm out from behind Lee and ran her fingers lightly down the side of his face and tried to smooth out the line between his eyebrows. “He’s not completely asleep yet,” she said. “How can you tell?” “That line between his eyebrows. It goes away entirely when he’s really out. He also doesn’t feel completely relaxed.” About that time Lee sighed and they could feel him relax. _“Now_ he’s totally out.” Aisling moved her hand down so it was the side of Lee’s neck. They laid there for a while and dropped back to sleep for a couple of hours. 


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Aisling woke up around 7am and managed to disentangle herself from Lee without waking him or Matt up, grabbed some clothes, and went into the bathroom to get a shower and dressed. About an hour later, she was done and out in the kitchen and making a grocery list. She realized she needed a recipe off the computer and headed into the office. She saw that Lee had just dumped his bag on the desktop and thrown some papers on top of her laptop. She moved his bag and picked up the papers, looking at them while she took her laptop out of sleep. The top sheet was the shooting schedule for the rest of the series. She frowned at it. “What’s got you making that face?” she heard Matt ask as he wandered in. “It’s the shooting schedule for the rest of the series. Looks like the rest of this week are all overnight shoots. But when they get done Friday morning, they’re breaking until 10am Monday.” “At least they’re giving everyone the weekend to rest. He was practically dead on his feet when he got in this morning. I’m surprised he got his clothes off. He didn’t move at all when I got up just now.” “I noticed you didn’t exactly jump out of bed when I got up, boo.” “Oh, I was awake, baby girl, I just didn’t think I could pull my arm out without waking him up. He finally shifted a little.” “Good. I always worry about him getting enough sleep with these overnights.” “I know. What were you going to do?” “We need groceries. I was writing a list.” “Give me about 20 minutes and I’ll come with you and let him sleep.” “Sounds like a plan.”

About 30 minutes later, they headed out, leaving a note for Lee just in case he woke up while they were gone. There were a couple of places on the other side of town that Aisling wanted to go to and they wound up not getting back until almost 1pm. They came in with a couple of bags, Matt went out to get the rest from the car. Aisling started to put away what they had brought in when she suddenly found herself spun around and crushed in a hug. “It’s about time. Where have you been?” Lee demanded, with a tone she couldn’t quite identify. “We were out getting groceries. I left a note telling you we were going to the other side of town and would be gone a few hours.” “I texted you and you didn’t answer,” he still had a tight hold on her. “You did? Let me check my phone,” she said, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. She hit the fingerprint sensor, but nothing happened. She tried the side button, still nothing. “Apparently my phone died. Why didn’t you try Matt when I didn’t answer?” “Because I wanted you,” he said, lowering his head and capturing her mouth. They broke apart as Matt brought in the rest of the bags, “There. Done in one trip...well, good morning there, sunshine.” He walked over and kissed Lee over Aisling’s head. “C’mon guys, don’t do this to me now,” she groaned looking up. She never got tired of seeing them kissing to begin with, but from this angle? The advantages of being a foot shorter than them… It was all she could do to not try to drag them both to the bedroom. Lee finally turned loose of Aisling and wandered off to get a shower while she and Matt finished putting the groceries away and got him something to eat. 

The rest of the week passed uneventfully with pretty much the same pattern. Lee would leave around 5pm, get in around 5am, and sleep until noon. Matt and Aisling would stay in bed with him until about 6 or 7, then get up and do what they needed to do. When they got to Friday though, Lee got up around 10am. Aisling and Matt couldn’t talk him into going back to bed. “No, if I sleep until noon, I won’t be able to sleep tonight.” “Well, we could probably take care of that,” Matt said with a wink, looking at Aisling. “We probably could at that,” she answered. “You two are bad.” “What? I just meant we could watch some action movies? What did you think we meant?” Aisling asked, trying to look innocent. “But I do think it would be a good idea to just stay in this weekend. I’m still worried about your ankle. You say it’s fine, but I’ve seen you wince a few times when you didn’t think either of us is looking.” Lee started to protest. “Don’t even start. I’ve seen it, too,” Matt said, “you forget we both know you too well for you to think you can sneak that kind of thing by us.” It was a little bit of work on both their parts, but they finally did get him to just take it easy over the weekend.

The next couple of weeks really did settle into a regular routine. Lee had to be at the studios by about 9am or 10 am and would be there until 5pm or 6pm. A couple of times he was there until 9pm. They also worked straight through the weekend. By the end of the second week, he was more than ready for them to get done on Friday and not have to be back until Tuesday. When he got in on Thursday, Aisling told him that Bill had called to see about her coming out on Friday morning. “Just as long as you don’t get in my way of getting out of here in the morning,” he said. “What are you talking about? You don’t even get up until 7am.” “That’s what I was going to tell you. They want us there about 6 tomorrow morning to catch a shot using the sunrise.” “Oh, that will be gorgeous.” “We’ll also be done around 11am, so I’ll be home early.” “That’s good. Get an early start on the weekend.” “Sounds good. Then we can see what we want to do for the weekend.” “Cool. Let me just let Bill know for certain that I’m coming out, then we need to get dinner and all get to sleep early.” 

The next morning Lee rolled out of bed about 4:30 and took a quick shower. He grabbed his bag, went back in the bedroom and sat on the side of the bed to put on his shoes. Aisling was already in the bathroom getting a shower and Matt was just waking up. He reached over and pulled on Lee’s shirt, startling him, and making him fall backwards, which was Matt’s goal. He moved over quickly and attacked Lee’s mouth. Lee put up no resistance even though he knew he needed to get on the road. “Again with you two and leaving me out!” they heard Aisling say after a couple of minutes. They broke apart, Matt leaning his forehead down on Lee’s shoulder. Lee’s hand came up to Matt’s head, “I really should be getting out of here anyway. I may be the star, but it’s not cool for me to make everyone wait,” he said sitting up. He stood up and walked over to Aisling, “But it wouldn’t be fair to leave you out entirely,” he said, leaning down to kiss her just as thoroughly as Matt had kissed him. “Be careful,” he whispered when they broke apart.

Lee left and Aisling left to go to the launch site about 6:30 since sunrise wasn’t until just after 7am. There were a couple other balloons there besides Bill’s. Which meant a little socializing before flying. While they were getting the basket and envelope and getting everything hooked up, Bill asked Aisling if she wanted to go up for a lesson and fly it herself, too. “Sure! I haven’t done that for a long time.” About ten minutes later, Bill and Aisling were taking off. About 5 minutes later, he turned control over to Aisling. “I’m glad I got you up here alone,” Bill said, “I’ve been wanting to check and see how you’re doing.” “Everything is going great. We went to Ojo Caliente at New Year’s. Just getting out of town and spending some time just the three of us was great.” “Matt seems like he’s just as much in love with you as Lee is. I’m assuming that Lee didn’t come because of filming?” “Yes, he is. After we got back at New Year’s, the studio kicked off with a week straight of overnight shoots.” “Ouch.” “Yeah, he spent most of that weekend sleeping. The last two weeks, it’s been pretty much 9-5 everyday, including last weekend. But today, they started early because they wanted to use the sunrise and they’re going to be finishing up around 11 and then he doesn’t need to be back until Tuesday morning.” “That’s got to be exhausting for him. Didn’t he also break his ankle not too long ago?” “Yeah, he did. I’ve got guarantees from the studio that they won’t push him. But getting him to not push it is where Matt and I are having problems. I’m glad he’s got this weekend. He doesn’t realize it, but we know when he’s getting tired.” “Speaking of, why didn’t Matt come out this morning?” “He had some work he wanted to get finished up and have the weekend clear.” “I’m really glad everything is working out so well with you guys. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take control of this aircraft back. I’d let you land it, but, as you can tell, the surface winds are picking up a bit and you don’t have near the experience for this yet.” “Fine with me.” “You know the drill, where the handholds are, get lower than me, etc.” Aisling got herself braced, “Yep, ready when you are.” They were coming in fast, but nothing that neither of them hadn’t experience before. However, a rogue gust caught them, spun them around 180 degrees and they slammed into the ground. They were dragging, but were stopped by a small hill, but they could feel the envelope still pulling. The red line was close to Aisling and she grabbed it and pulled as hard as she could, looking up and could see when the parachute came out and the pulling stopped immediately as the hot air went out the top. “Are you OK?” Bill asked her. “I’m fine, I’m...just going to assess the situation here for a minute. Are you OK?” “I’m fine. The rest of the team should be here soon” The rest of the crew got there about 5 minutes later. “Are you guys OK?” everyone was asking. Aisling realized that they weren’t going to quit asking her until she stood up so she finally got herself out of the basket. “Are you sure you’re OK?” Bill asked her. “Yeah, nothing big. I’m sure there’s going to be a couple of bruises, but that’s nothing new,” she walked off to disconnect the lines. Bill pulled out his phone and dialed Matt, “You need to come pick up your girl. We had a less-than-marshmallow landing. She says she’s fine and she might even think it, but she got slammed hard into a propane tank. The adrenaline crash is going to happen in an hour or so and she’s going to be sore as hell for the next few days and I don’t even want to think what her back is going to look like. We’ll get this packed up and back to the launch site as fast as we can.” “I can be there in about 10 minutes. But what about her Jeep?” “I know the land owner. I’ll talk to them when we get there, but I’m sure when they find out what happened, they’ll be fine with it being left there until you two can come and get it.” “You do know she’s not going to be happy you called me.” “Let me handle her. You just get there. We’ll be there in about 30 minutes.”

They were right that Aisling was not a bit happy about Bill calling Matt to come get her. “I’m fine!” “You might think you are now, but you’re in no condition to drive. You know that happens even after a perfect flight.” “OK, but what about my Jeep? I can’t just leave it here.” “I’ve already talked to the Lujans. They’re fine with you leaving it here until your boys can come and get it.” Aisling finally gave in. She had to admit it was uncomfortable leaning back in the passenger seat in Matt’s car. They got back to the apartment and Matt could tell the crash was setting in. Aisling was getting snarly and was starting to have trouble moving. “Why don’t you get changed and lay down for a bit, baby girl?” “That might not be a bad idea,” as she walked slowly into the bedroom. While she sat down on the side of the bed and took her boots off, Matt went to get her some aspirin, she was definitely going to need it, when he heard a loud, “Ow! Fuck!” from the bedroom. He quickly went to see what was wrong. “I can’t lift my arms, dammit.” “OK, let me help you. Stand up.” He grabbed the bottom of her shirt and gently pulled it off over her head. He turned her so he could undo her sports bra and pull it off, wincing at the bruising that was already coming out. “How does it look?” she asked. “Ummm...colorful,” he hedged, glad she couldn’t see his face. It was definitely worse than she thought. “I think I will lay down for a little bit.” But quickly found it hurt way too much to lay on her back. She rolled over on her stomach, still in pain, but the adrenaline was leaving her system so fast, she basically passed out. Matt got her pants off and gently shifted her on the bed and pulled the blankets up over her and left the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind him. He looked at the clock, it was about 10:30. Lee was going to be home in a little over an hour. He was going to go ballistic when he saw this. 

He was right. Lee came in about 11:45. Aisling was still asleep. “Hey, how did it go this morning?” “Good and then not-so-good.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Well, they flew, but the landing was a little rough.” “What do you mean rough? Where’s Aisling.” “She’s fine, but she’s asleep.” Lee opened the door, Aisling had moved a little and the blanket had shifted off her, “Oh my god…what in the hell happened?” He whispered-shouted, closing the door again, rounding on Matt. “From what Bill told me, there was a sudden gust that spun them around and ran them into a small hill and she got slammed into a propane tank.” “What the hell did he think he was doing, putting her in danger like that!” His voice was starting to get loud. “Calm down! You’re going to wake her up. Think about it, Bill was with her, do you really think he’d do something to put himself in danger?” “Yeah, I guess you’re right...it’s just…” his shoulders dropped, “I hate to see her hurt. She’s so tiny.” He looked like he was about to cry. “Hey, stop that, she’ll be fine,” Matt said hugging him, “You know how tough she is. You look tired, also. Why don’t you lie down for a while, too?” “You’re right. But I’m taking the couch. I don’t want to take the chance of grabbing her in my sleep and hurting her more.” “Probably not a bad idea. “ He kissed Lee, “Come lay down with me for a bit?” he said against Matt’s mouth, pulling him back towards the couch with him. “I don’t think I have much choice,” he said, not resisting at all. The back of Lee’s legs hit the edge of the couch, he turned them, pushing Matt down onto it, not asking for, but demanding entrance into his mouth which he immediately allowed. Suddenly, Lee sat up, straddling Matt’s hips, and pulling his t-shirt over his head, Matt did the same. Lee laid back down on him, finding and biting a sensitive area on Matt’s neck. He could feel Lee’s hands moving down, pushing at Matt’s pants, he took that moment to shove at Lee’s sweats. Soon, they were both rid of their pants and it was clear what Lee’s agenda was. Matt caught the look in his eyes. He needed this, needed to be in control. Matt understood why. “It’s been a while since we’ve done this…” Lee got what he meant, “No problem,” and he reached down to the floor where he’d dumped his bag. He fumbled in the front pocket and pulled out some lotion. “You’re like a damn Boy Scout...always prepared,” Matt said with a smirk. “You’re not really complaining are you?” “No, now get back to what you were doing.” “You don’t need to tell me twice.” Lee squeezed some lotion into his hand, warming it, before reaching down between them and finding the entrance he was looking for and gently pushing one and then two fingers in. Matt gasped, “What are you waiting for?” Lee removed his hand and settled between Matt’s leg, pushing one out to the side. He got positioned and slowly started pushing in, “Would you hurry?” Matt whispered, pulling Lee down to kiss him. Lee pushed in all the way and stopped for a moment to let them both adjust. “Now…” Matt breathed and with that, Lee started moving slowly. Matt’s shaft was trapped between them and the friction that was being generated by Lee moving soon had him pushing hard into Lee’s stomach. Lee pushed a little harder making Matt gasp. Lee smiled, knowing he was hitting the right spot. Soon, he increased his speed and suddenly felt Matt shudder under him and felt a warmth in-between them which sent him over the edge. Matt felt him pulse and a deep groan come out of his mouth. The both stilled for a moment and then Lee dropped his head down into the crook of Matt’s neck, breathing hard. He wrapped his arms around Lee’s shoulders. He felt Lee softening, then he moved and Lee slid out of him, but didn’t make any other move. They stayed like that for a few minutes. “Are you feeling better now, babe?” Matt asked quietly. “I wasn’t feeling bad…?” “Your anxiety over Aisling was off the charts. This at least takes the edge off.” “I guess you’re right. But we need to get cleaned up and go check on our girl.” It took them another 10 minutes to finally get up and then get cleaned up. 

Lee had just come out of the bathroom and was making his way to the closet to put his shoes up. He was almost there when he heard a soft, pain-filled groan coming from the bed. He went over and gently sat down on the side, reaching up to stroke Aisling’s hair. “Hey baby girl, how you feeling?” “It hurts.” “Where does it hurt?” “Everywhere,” and he could hear in her voice that she was close to tears. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry. Can I get you anything?” “Help me up? I need to go pee. And no, before you even say it, I do _not_ need you to come in with me.” He smiled at that. “I promise. Come on.” It wasn’t fast and there was more than a little cursing on Aisling’s part, including calling Lee a few choice names, but he got her to the bathroom. He was taking her back to the bed when she stopped him, “No I don’t want to go back to bed. I want to go lay on the couch and it’s too dark in here anyway.” “OK, let me go tell Matt and we’ll get it fixed up for you.” They got her settled on the couch with pillows arranged so that she could lie on her stomach comfortably and a soft, warm blanket covering her. “I could use something to eat, I’m starving,” she said. Matt knelt down near her head, “What do you want, baby girl?” “A burger and fries sounds great. And a chocolate milkshake.” “Your wish is my command.” He stood up, “I’ll go get those. I’d say let’s go get her car, but I don’t think she should be left alone right now.” Lee was in complete agreement, “Doesn’t sound like it’s urgent that we go get it. It can wait until at least tomorrow.” 30 minutes later, Matt was back. Aisling insisted that she could sit up to eat if she was just careful about not leaning back. Then they both forced her to lay back down. “OK, fine, but at least give me the remote to the TV. You guys go do something. Although you’ve already checked one thing off your to-do list…” she said with a smirk. “You heard that?” Lee said, blushing. “You weren’t quiet. I might not be up to moving hardly at all, but I haven’t been asleep that whole time.” “Sorry…” Matt said, turning just as red. “Look at you two both blushing. You’re too cute.” Once they got over their embarrassment, Matt went back to the work on the computer he had been doing before Bill called and Lee was going over the scripts for the next week. 

Later that evening, Lee had laid down on the couch with Aisling stretched out on top of him. When the movie they were watching was over, Matt asked, “Did you want to watch something else? It’s still early.” “We can, but Aisling’s been out for about an hour,” Lee said, stroking her head. She had snaked one of her arms up under his neck and had her hand woven into his hair. “Maybe you should go take her to bed?” “I’d rather let her sleep here for a while longer. Moving her is going to wake her up and I want to keep her from hurting as long as possible.” So they settled down to watch another movie. A couple hours later, “Guess I’ve got to figure out how to get her into bed,” Lee said. “I don’t think that’s ever been a problem for you before,” Matt snorted. “That’s true,” Lee chuckled softly, “Hey, sweetheart, I’m taking you to bed,” he whispered in Aisling’s ear as he shifted a bit. He felt her trying to move, but stopped. “I can’t get up,” she whined in obvious pain. “You don’t have to,” he said, moving her other arm up around the back of his neck, “Hold on, I’ll try not to hurt you too much.” He sat up, letting her legs slide down on either side of his waist. Then he stood, his hands coming under her thighs. She whimpered a little and he felt her arms tighten around his neck. He quickly made his way into the bedroom, sat down on the side of the bed and unwrapped her legs from around him so he could lay down on the bed. Lee scooted over and pulled Aisling’s arms from around his neck and gently pulled the t-shirt she had on off over her head and slid her over so that she was lying on her side, but still mostly on him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, avoiding the bruising. She sighed, relaxing, and leaving her hand up over his heart. Matt came back into the bedroom after locking up and shutting off the lights. “I think I better sleep on the other side. I don’t want to take a chance on grabbing her in my sleep either.” He turned out the lights and climbed in bed on the other side of Lee. Aisling turned her face more into Lee’s neck, grumbling something. “What’s the matter, babe?” He asked quietly. “I’m cold,” she grumbled again. “I can fix that,” he said, pulling the blanket up over them. “Now go to sleep.” Her breathing evened out in seconds. “She’s going to hurt like hell in the morning,” Lee whispered. “I know,” Matt said, yawning as they both drifted off to sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Somewhere around 6:30 the next morning, Aisling woke up. She could tell that Lee was awake and had her tucked snugly into his chest, both arms avoiding her back. She heard Matt get up and go into the kitchen. He put the radio on low. One of her favorite songs was playing, “Adore You” by Harry Styles. After a few moments, Lee started quietly singing with it. “That always surprises me,” she said softly when the song changed, kissing his throat. “I didn’t realize you were awake. What surprises you?” “That you’re a tenor. You should sing more.” He laughed softly, “Nobody wants to hear that.” “I do…” she said, trying to stretch and shift a little, “Shit...owwwww…” which came out as a whine. “What are you trying to do, babe?” “I don’t know. Get up?” “Why? We don’t have anywhere to go today. Just relax.” “But I want a shower.” “I don’t know that you’re up to standing for that. How about a bath?” “That sounds good. Fuck…” as she tried to move again. “This could take a while,” she groaned. “No it won’t. I’ll be right back.” He slid out of bed and headed in the bathroom. Asiling heard him turn on the water in the bathtub and managed to push herself to sit up. She painfully moved to the side of the bed and had just managed to stand up when Lee came back. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded. “I can walk, it’s just not very fast or graceful.” “Well, you don’t need to.” He stooped down and picked her up around her hips and carried her into the bathroom. He didn’t put her down, but stepped down into the tub. He hooked his arm up under her knees and lowered them both down into the water, reaching over to shut off the taps. He leaned back so that Aisling could stretch out on top of him. “Ohhhh...this feels good,” she sighed. She tried to lift her arms to put them around his neck, “Ow. Shit. I can’t raise my arms.” “I’m sorry baby,” he said, kissing the top of her head. She settled for wrapping them around his chest. He got a good look at her back and was glad she couldn’t see his face. However, Matt came into the bathroom at that moment and couldn’t help the look of alarm on his face. “That bad?” Aisling asked him. Lee answered, “Remember how my hip looked when I fell off the throne? The whole left side of your back is purple, black, and blue.” “Are you sure you didn’t break any ribs?” Matt asked. “Pretty sure. It does hurt to breathe, so I probably bruised a couple.” “Maybe we should take you to urgent care?” “All they could tell me is that they’re bruised and to take it easy for a while. What would be the point?” “I guess...it just looks so bad.” “Could you get me some aspirin and some tea?” “Of course, baby girl. I’ll be right back.” Lee scooped some warm water up over her back and lightly smoothed his hand down it. She tensed slightly. “I’m sorry, did that hurt?” “Not really, but the warmth from the water and your hand feels really good.” Matt came back with the painkillers and a mug. “Thank you, boo.” She took the pills and then set the mug up on the side after a few minutes. Lee kept scooping warm water over her back and lightly running his hand down her back. Soon he could feel her slowly relaxing. “You’re not going to sleep are you?” he whispered in Aisling’s ear. “No, just nothing’s hurting right now.” 

About a half hour later, Aisling shifted and started to push up. “Are you OK, babe?” Lee asked. “I’m fine. Just ready to get out of here.” “OK, we can do that.” He moved her legs to the side, stood up with her, going up the two steps out, and set her on her feet on the bathmat. “Let me grab a couple towels.” He handed her one and started drying off with the other. He had turned around slightly and then heard a sound of pure frustration from Aisling. “What’s wrong, babe?” “I can’t dry my back...or anything, damnit.” He wrapped his towel around his waist, laughing slightly, “Here, give me that.” He took her towel and dried her off, being as gentle as he could on her back. “OK, did you want to go back to bed or move to the couch?” he asked as he wrapped it around her. “Umm...the couch. The TV is out there.” She slowly made her way into the bedroom and grabbed one of Lee’s t-shirts and put it on. She then headed into the living room, grabbed the remote, and laid down on her stomach on the couch. 

Aisling had been flipping channels for a couple of minutes when Matt came in and sat down heavily in the chair and just watched her. After a couple of minutes, she looked at him, “What? Why are you staring at me?” “Just wondering why you do it?” “Do what?” “Mess with hot air balloons? It seems like it’s way too dangerous. You’ve gotten hurt twice now since I got here.” “Well, it’s a lot of fun. Yes, it is dangerous, but most of the time, everything goes perfectly and nobody gets hurt. Most of the time I don’t even have a single sore muscle.” “I still don’t like it,” he said. He got up from the chair and moved to kneel on the floor by the couch near her head, reaching up to place his hand on her cheek. “I’ve had worse. Just give me a day or two to get over the stiffness and I’ll be fine,” she said, putting her hand over his. They stayed like this for a few moments, then he stood up, and leaned over to kiss her. “OK. I’ve got some work to do. I’ll be over in the office. Yell if you need me.” “I will. Where did Lee get to?” “He’s out on the porch with some scripts.” 

Around noon, Matt came out of the office and saw Aisling levering herself up off the couch, wincing in obvious pain. “Whoa! What are you doing?” “I need to go to the bathroom and I’m hungry, too.” “OK, you go to the bathroom, but I’ll get you something to eat. What do you want?” “I don’t care. Surprise me...and something to drink...and some more aspirin.” “Anything else, your highness?” “Oh, bite me.” “Not right now. Maybe later.” She snorted at that and made her way out onto the porch while Matt made them all some sandwiches. “Are you sure you’re comfortable?” Lee asked as she sat down. “As long as I don’t lean back, I’m fine,” she said as she took the aspirin that Matt had brought her along with some coke. “I’m not going to stay out here long.” She went back in about 1pm, stopping to get her tablet. Not long after Matt came in, “Want some company?” he asked. “Sure,” Aisling shifted over, rolling a little onto her right side to give him room. He stretched out next to her, pulling her back over so she was laying mostly on him. “Comfortable?” he asked. “Yeah.” A few minutes later, she let out a big sigh and it sounded like she was sniffling a little. Matt tipped her head back, using his thumb to wipe away some tears, “Hey, what’s this about?” “I just feel like I ruined the weekend.” “Oh, baby girl, you didn’t ruin anything. We were just planning on hanging out here. Lee’s tired from the last two weeks.” “You’re sure?” “Yes. Now give me the remote.” He found the game show channel that was running some game shows from the 70s. Even though the clothes were somewhat alarming in that they were obviously polyester and a blind person could see the color and pattern combinations, it was funny. Not long after, Matt felt Aisling relax as she drifted off to sleep.

A couple of hours later, Lee came in off the porch and started to say something, but was cut off by Matt shushing him. “How long has she been asleep?” Lee asked. “A couple of hours.” Lee dropped down into the chair and stared at the TV for a minute, “What are you watching?” he asked, completely baffled. “It’s some gods-awful movie called ‘Hardware’. But it’s actually ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ so it’s funny.” “Which is the only way to see this movie,” Aisling mumbled. “I didn’t realize you were awake, baby girl,” Matt said, lightly kissing her hair. “I just woke up and saw that on the screen. I remember going to see that with an ex-boyfriend. We walked out after about 30 minutes.” “How are you feeling, babe?” Lee asked her. “Better. I don’t feel near as stiff.” “Well, there’s no need to push it, so don’t. I thought I’d run to the store and get some steaks to throw on the grill and bake some potatoes, too?” Matt and Aisling thought that sounded great so Lee left to go to the store.

After a couple of minutes, Aisling slid her leg up and pushed herself up Matt’s body a little and started leaving light kisses up his throat and along his jaw while running her left hand up under his shirt. “What are you doing?” Matt asked. “Do I really need to explain this to you?” she whispered, not stopping until she reached just under his ear where she bit lightly. She shifted her leg a little, “Looks like I’m not the only one that’s stiff,” she said, continuing to nibble, getting a groan out of Matt. His hand came up around her thigh, pulling. Aisling moved so that she was straddling him and started pushing his sweats down enough to release him. “Isn’t this going to hurt you?” he gasped. “I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t feeling as stiff,” she said, lifting herself just enough for him to slide into her. “But let me do the work, baby girl,” he whispered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders when she tried to raise up. Then he started thrusting up into her, with his other hand coming up to her hip. She reached up with her right hand up under his jaw and crushed her mouth to his, pushing into his mouth. Sooner than she expected she felt the build-up low in her pelvis and suddenly she was shuddering and clenching around Matt and she felt him emptying everything into her, groaning into her mouth. They lay gasping for breath for a couple of minutes, Aisling dropping her head into the crook of Matt’s neck, finally releasing his jaw as he slipped out of her. “Are you OK?” Matt asked. “I’m fine...but I think I should be asking you that,” she said lightly rubbing his cheek where her fingers had been gripping tightly. After a few more minutes, Aisling pushed up, “Guess I better put these back where they came from,” reaching down to pull his sweats back up. She then settled back where she’d been earlier. 

Not long after, Lee came back in from the store. He sat the bags down in the kitchen and walked into the living room, “I got some ice cream, too, for…dessert,” he trailed off, looking at them. Lee was pretty sure he knew what had happened while he was gone. “I also got a call from the studio while I was at the store.” “What about?” Aisling asked. “They’ve decided that they’re adding an episode at the beginning about what was going on in Mirkwood during the War of the Ring. So we’re filming the Battle Under the Trees.” “Wow. When are you filming that?” Matt asked. “We’re doing it later this week. The script and battle choreography have already been worked out...” He hesitated a bit. “What?” Aisling said. “We’re not filming it here. They’re wanting to do a location shoot down in the Lincoln National Forest. It’s got the look they want. It’s going to take at least 5 to 6 days to shoot it.” “OK,” Aisling said, “What’s wrong? What’s that look for, sweetness?” “I have to leave Tuesday morning…and you’re hurt…and...” “Oh, baby,” she said pushing up off of Matt, standing up, walking over to him, and hugging him. “Don’t worry. I keep telling you, I’ve been hurt worse. I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you. Your ankle still isn’t 100%.” She saw that look that she couldn’t place cross his eyes again as his arm came up around her shoulders tightly.

Since the shooting was moving to the remote location and there were a lot of things that needed moved, Lee didn’t have to go in for shooting on Monday. The two days before he left, Aisling could hardly do anything without having Lee underfoot. He kept saying it was because he was still worried about her back, but she could tell there was something else going on. He also kept putting himself in between her and Matt, hardly letting him touch her. Tuesday morning when she woke up, she realized that Lee wasn’t behind her as usual. She reached behind her and found that Matt was already out of bed. She opened her eyes and was greeted by the glorious sight of Lee’s throat and couldn’t help herself kissing it. She was rewarded with him sighing and moving enough to cause the veins on the left side to stand out. Those were also too tempting for her and she traced them with her tongue. This elicited a low growl, she smiled and nipped at them lightly. She felt his arms tighten around her as he rolled onto his back taking her with him. She shifted up just a little to kiss the underside of his jaw. His jaw clenched and the veins stood out even more. She reached a hand up and traced them lightly with her fingers this time while kissing the notch in his collarbone. Lee squirmed a little and Aisling could feel the effect this was having on him against her leg. Suddenly, he rolled them to the other side, wedging one leg in between hers. Even half asleep, he was aware that he needed to be careful of the left side of her back. The friction of his leg between hers had her moving her hand up to tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck. He lifted his leg, opening her to him and sheathed himself, causing her to moan quietly. Suddenly his mouth was covering hers, swallowing any noises she was making and started moving in her. He thrusted up a little harder, hitting a spot deep inside that had her pulling on his hair and starting to shake. He reached down between them and lightly circled the bundle of nerves above where they were joined and then pushed on it harder. Suddenly she was pulling his hair hard enough to cause pain and clamped down around him, squeezing him and causing him to pulse deep inside her. After a couple of minutes, still breathing heavy, they broke apart. “Could you quit pulling on my hair now, babe?” Lee asked softly kissing her again. “Oh...yeah...sorry,” Aisling gasped, releasing the grip she had and lightly stroking where she’d had her grip. 

A few minutes later, she moved her leg down off his hip and sat up. “Ow...damn,” as she forgot about the bruising on her back, “I guess we should get up and get you packed and on the road. It’s a 4-hour drive, but it’s pretty. Where did they decide to put you up?” “The Lodge in Cloudcroft.” “The Lodge?! Oh, you might get to meet Rebecca,” she said, stretching her arms over her head. “Who’s Rebecca?” “Rebecca is the resident ghost. She was a beautiful chambermaid with blue eyes and red hair who disappeared after her lumberjack lover found her in the arms of another man.” “Is there any place here that doesn’t have a ghost?” “Not many.” “How’s your back feeling this morning?” he asked, running his fingers lightly over the bruising, making her shiver a little. “It’s better. It’s a little sensitive if I try to lay on it, but it’s more stiff, sore muscles now. Warm shower will help with that,” she said, sliding out of bed and heading towards the bathroom. She had just moved under the warm spray of water to let it work it’s magic when Lee joined her, not surprisingly. She found herself wondering again what was up with him. Maybe it was just that he was going to be gone for a few days. Whatever it was, she decided to let it go until he got back and let him wash her hair and back since he seemed determined to coddle her. She had to admit, it was nice.

Half an hour later, they were both out and dressed. Aisling wandered into the kitchen, looking for something to eat. “It’s about time,” Matt yelled from the office, “I was beginning to think you two were never getting out of bed.” “You know you could have joined us,” she shot back. She heard a quiet “nuh-uh” from the bedroom that she didn’t think she was supposed to hear. Which made her wonder again what was going on with Lee. Before she could think any more about it, Matt came out of the office. “Well, I’ve got some news, too.” “Good or bad?” “Neither really. I’ve got to go to New York for a few days.” “When?” I’ll be leaving late Thursday and will be back late Monday.” Lee, who was still in the bedroom, could hear them talking, and smiled to himself thinking, _“Good. I’ll get her to myself for once_ ”.

“Are you sure you won’t come with me?” Lee asked Aisling again, pouting a little as he stood in the living room with his arms wrapped around her. “I’d love to, sweetness, but you’re going to be so busy, we won’t be able to have any fun. We’ll go stay down there some other time when you’re not working.” “OK, fine. I bet you won’t even miss me.” “Babe, I miss you already and you haven’t even left yet. Now kiss me and get out of here.” He did as he was told, kissing her thoroughly. Just as they were breaking apart, Matt came in, “You didn’t think you’d get away without a goodbye kiss, did you?” He stopped behind Aisling and pulling Lee closer to kiss him. Aisling sighed, “I keep telling you two not to do this when I can’t drag you both into the bedroom.” “I’m really going to miss you both,” Lee said looking down at Aisling and kissing her again. They finally got him on the road about 10 minutes later. “He really didn’t want to go, did he?” Matt said. “No,” Aisling sighed, “there’s something up with him. He’s been acting a little funny off and on since New Year’s.” “You noticed it, too? I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve never seen him like this before.” “I’ll see if I can get him to talk when he gets back Sunday. What time is your flight Thursday?” “It leaves at 3pm. So I guess I’ll need to leave here about noon?” “Sounds about right. I’ve got some work to do today, but I’m completely open tomorrow. We can plan something for tomorrow over dinner? I never asked what happened that you have to go to New York?” “That works. I’ve got some work I still need to do, too. There was a meltdown with the shipping for one of the fall lines that we’re trying to sort out. Some of it, I’ve been able to do from here. Some of it though, we need to be face-to-face with them.” “Yikes.” 

Over dinner, Aisling suggested a trip to Santa Fe. “There’s two exhibitions at the New Mexico Museum of Art that I’d like to see.” “Sounds good. What are the exhibitions?” “One is historical clothing of the southwest and the other is about lowrider culture.” “Lowriders? Really? All I know about them is the song.” “Oh yeah, it’s a big deal here, especially in Española. People put a lot of money into them,” Aisling said, laughing. Neither one of them really felt like driving, so they also decided to take the Rail Runner. They spent the evening just hanging out watching TV and called it an early night since the train left a little after 8am the next morning.

Aisling thought the clothing exhibition was fantastic, even better was that they allowed photography. There were some really interesting things that she thought Lee would like to see. Matt, on the other hand, was absolutely fascinated by the lowrider exhibition. To the point that Aisling was afraid that he was going to get a car and start turning it into a lowrider. “I had no idea all of this went with them. I really just thought it was cars real low down to the ground and that song.” Aisling had a hard time getting him out of there. “Come on, boo, I’m hungry,” she sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. Finally, he’d had a look at everything. “Where are we going to eat? Where we went at New Year’s or the place that you and Lee went to?” “Neither one. I was thinking earlier, it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten at the San Francisco Street Grill.” “OK. Where is it?” “Funny enough...on San Francisco Street,” she answered with a smirk. “I kind of walked into that one, didn’t I?” “Yep, it might be because you're hungry. Let’s go.” They had a nice lunch and then stopped in at a few galleries around the Plaza. There was still quite a bit of time before they had to be back at the depot to catch the train back. Since it was a nice day, they got a couple of drinks and found a bench in the sun. Matt sat down, pulling Aisling’s legs up over his after she sat down. “Maybe I should have tried Lee’s trick of pulling down onto my lap,” he said putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer. “Yeah, you don’t have the excuse of there not being anywhere for me to sit,” she said, kissing under his ear. “That’s true...and this is a better angle anyway,” he said, turning his head, running his hand under her jaw to tip her head up and capture her in a kiss. They broke apart and sat watching the few tourists that were there for a while. Aisling looked at her watch, “Oh, we better head back over to the Depot.”

The ride back down wasn’t all that crowded and they had the train car almost to themselves. “It’s certainly different when we don’t have Lee with us,” Aisling said. “How?” Matt asked, putting an arm around her and pulling her in close to him. “Not that I’m complaining, but he does get recognized. We rarely get bothered, but I don’t think he notices it, either,” she answered. “Of course he doesn’t. He’s too busy watching you.” “What?” “Yeah, he keeps an eye on where you are all the time.” “You know, I’m not surprised. That one picture from August, that was the one that Michael, the head guy, was really mad at me about. Like I could somehow control how anyone looks at me. Of course, I had just spent the night with Lee, too, and he knew that…” “Yeah, that might have crossed a line or two there.” “Well, it was either that, or one of their stars spending the night in the lobby of the Convention Center. Because we both know he would have done that.” They sat quietly for a bit, watching the countryside go by. “Now if you can get out of him what’s going on in that beautiful mind of his,” Matt said. “I will...one way or another,” Aisling said. After another couple of minutes, “More pressing right now, what do we want for dinner?” “That is a good question. Something fast since it’s getting late.” “I know. I’ll make some pasta with an Alfredo sauce. It won’t take long.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

That same time, the cast and crew were taking their dinner break from filming. Lee was just sitting down with his food when one of the camera people yelled at him, “Hey, Thrandy, isn’t this your girlfriend?” holding up her phone. Lee walked over to get a closer look. “Yes it is…” not sure where the woman was going with this. “Well, why is she kissing someone not you?” He sighed, the cast and most of the crew had been with them from the beginning and knew about Aisling and Matt and their relationship. None of them had an issue with it. But this woman, she had just joined them when they got down to Cloudcroft. He had no idea how she was going to react. Best course of action though, was just to say it plainly instead of dancing around it. “Because that’s our boyfriend,” he said cautiously. He knew that this could go badly. “He’s...what?” “That is my girlfriend and our boyfriend.” He could see her processing what he’d said. Lee could see the minute it clicked what he had said, “Oh. Well, that’s a new one for me. Hmm…” Everyone was kind of watching her to see her reaction. Whatever their personal thoughts were about the relationship, they all thought the world of Lee and had his back. “I think the three of you look annoyingly pretty together and I’m jealous.” Lee could feel the tension he hadn’t realized was there leave the room. Shooting resumed not long after that and the finished up late. Later that night, Lee was laying in bed thinking. While he was glad the camera woman was fine with them, the pictures bothered him. Sleep was a long time coming as his mind came up with only one thing, even though he knew it stupid of him to even be thinking it. The director had also let them know that they were actually going to get done sometime in the late afternoon on Saturday. Which meant that Lee was going to get home Saturday evening. Which meant that he could surprise Aisling and share his “thoughts” with her.

Aisling and Matt had had dinner and cleaned up. Matt had once again picked a romantic comedy on Netflix to watch. He was slumped down against the back of the couch with his feet up on the foot rest. Aisling was stretched out next to him with her arm wrapped around him. There was significantly more action between the leads than normal. It wasn’t long before he moved the arm he had around her to tip her head up to kiss her, his tongue sweeping across her bottom lip. She moaned softly and when her lips parted, he took the opportunity to plunge into her mouth. Suddenly, Aisling shifted and was straddling him, never breaking connection. She was pushing the bottom of his shirt up and made a sound of frustration because she couldn’t get it up any further. Matt sat up to pull it off while Aisling pulled hers off as well. Before she could make any other move, Matt’s mouth was suddenly closing around one of her breasts, teasing the nipple through her bra. She grabbed his hair and pulled his head back to kiss him again while she undid her bra and threw it somewhere behind her. She turned loose of his hair and his mouth returned to where it had been before moving to the other side while his hands came up to her hips and started pushing at her pants. They both realized that this wasn’t going to work and stood up and got rid of their pants, returning to where they had been. Soon Aisling lifted herself up and slid down onto Matt until he was buried to the hilt. They both stilled for a moment, then he started moving, pulling her head down to capture her mouth. After a few minutes, she broke away, shifting forward on her knees, getting the angle she needed and looking down at Matt. Matt’s hands came up flat on her back, pulling her closer to him, sucking and nibbling on her throat. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, pulling his head back again, leaning her forehead against his, “Faster,” she gasped, crushing her mouth to his. He complied and within seconds she was contracting around him, trying to lift up, but his hands came down onto her hips to hold her down as he released deep in her. Slowly their breathing slowed and they both started to relax. Aisling tried to lift up again and this time Matt turned loose. She moved off him, flopping onto her back on the couch. “Oh my god,” she gasped, “Where did that come from?” “I don’t know. Maybe from the same place as you and Lee yesterday morning?” “Oh, you heard that? Why didn’t you come join us?” “Because for whatever reason, I don’t think that Lee would have been too happy with that. Or we both realized we’re going to miss you,” he said moving over to lay on her, kissing her softly. Aisling started giggling. “What are you laughing at?” “The movie’s over. I can’t seem to get through Netflix movies in one go with you two around!” “Well, you’re going to have two-and-a-half days to do just that. And I think it’s probably time I at least get to bed. I still need to pack in the morning.” “You know, this is the first time since October that I haven’t had one of you around.” “Don’t get used to it.” “I don’t want to.” They gathered up their clothes from around the room and headed off to bed.

The next morning, Matt got packed and left for the Sunport around noon. After he left, she turned on her computer to check her email, do some work, and then just surf around for a while. The text alert sounded on her phone. When she checked it, there were two conversations. Four from Lee. She was honestly surprised neither of them had heard from him yesterday, but figured they had just been way too busy. Which was fine, they both understood how much he got into a roll. _“Babe, I miss you.” “I can’t wait to get home.” “Babe?” “Baaaaabeee...where are you? I love you!_ ” They had all come in within about a 15 minutes time span. She just started laughing. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was drunk-texting her. She answered him back, _“I’m right here, sweetness. I miss you, too. Is everything going OK?_ ” She had hardly sent it when he was answering her back. _“Everything’s good. It’s cold here and I don’t have anyone to keep me warm._ ” Probably his whining should be annoying, but he didn’t do it often and Aisling actually found it cute. As big as he was, he could still manage to sound like a toddler. _“Oh, I’m sorry, babe. I’ll warm you up really good on Sunday. I love you, too._ ” The other text was from Celeste. _“Who is that guy?! Call me!_ ” Aisling hit Celeste’s number to call her. “Hey, chica,” Celeste said, “Like I asked in the text, who is that guy?” “What guy are you talking about?” “There’s pictures of you kissing some blonde guy all over the internet. Are you close to your computer, let me email you a link.” The email came in immediately. Aisling opened it up. “Oh shit…” she said as she read the short story with it saying that not only was she cheating on Lee, but was doing so with his ex-boyfriend. “So what’s going on? Did you two break up?” “No! We’re fine. It’s a long story. Do you want to meet me for an early dinner and I can tell you all about it?” “Of course. You’ve really got my curiosity up.” “I’m going to see if Stephanie wants to join us.” “One question though...where is Lee?” “I’ll fill you in on that, too.”

Aisling texted Stephanie and she was more than excited to meet Aisling and Celeste for dinner. They settled on El Pinto because they were going to need a few margaritas and they had the best in town. Once they were seated and had put their drink orders in, Celeste was the first one to speak. “OK, spill. What is going on with you?” “You remember back in November when Lee and I had that fight about his ex-boyfriend contacting me?” “Yeah, but you got all that sorted out, didn’t you?” “Yes, we did. But then Matt showed up here.” “He what?! That takes some brass balls,” Stephanie said, “Please tell me that Lee told him where to go and how to get there.” “I would, but I’d be lying. I think those pictures prove that.” “That’s true,” Steph said, “So what happened?” “Well, a couple of days after we made up, Matt showed up here. In fact, it was the day that we’d gone to Santa Fe and those girls took those pictures of us.” “Oh...my...gods…” Celeste said, totally shocked, “He did not!” “He did. We talked that night. In fact he wound up staying at our place because he had been in such a hurry to get here, he hadn’t booked a hotel.” “That must have been awkward.” “It was, but I was mostly worried about what it was doing to Lee.” “Of course. He was still hurt over the whole thing in the first place.” “Yes, he was. But we had dinner together a couple of nights later and Lee wanted us to at least be able to be civil with each other, maybe be friends.” “He is one of the most soft-hearted people I’ve ever met,” Stephanie said, “there’s not many of him.” “No, there isn’t. I’m really lucky,” Aisling said. “So how does that get to you kissing the ex-boyfriend,” Celeste asked. “Well, Matt wound up staying here. There was an attraction between us. In fact, Lee saw it before we did. Remember that snowstorm we had the day I sprained my ankle? He came over to our place for dinner and wound up staying there because of the power going out. We all wound up in bed together to keep warm. I’ve got a gas stove, so that still worked. Lee had gone to make us some hot drinks and while he was in the kitchen...Matt kissed me.” “So how pissed off was Lee?” Stephanie asked. “Not at all. He’d actually been expecting it to happen and was actually quite happy about it.” “That’s very open-minded of him,” Celeste said, meaning it, too. “Yes, it is. Especially after what happened a couple of nights later…” “You didn’t…?!” Stephanie gasped, completely shocked. “Yes, we did.” “Lee was OK with that, too?” “Yes, because, as he put it, 'we’re his two favorite people in the world'.” “So how does that work,” Stephanie asked, “when you...you know…do you go off by yourselves? Or does one watch?” “Well, you know it doesn’t have to be just two of us…” Aisling said, raising her eyebrows suggestively. She and Celeste both started laughing when Stephanie caught what Aisling meant and her eyes bugged out. “Are you serious?” she said when she could speak again. “Oh, yes. It’s amazing, too.” “You are damn lucky,” Celeste said. “Don’t I know it.” “Wait, so when Lee broke his ankle, Matt was here?” Steph asked. “Yes, thank goodness. I couldn’t have managed Lee on my own. Especially when we brought him home from the hospital. 6-foot-5, 200lbs, and stoned out of his mind?” Both Steph and Celeste were laughing at that since they’d both seen him buzzed and knew what he was like then. “OK, but I have to ask, since everything is going so great, where are they then?” “The studio decided they wanted to add an episode to the beginning of ‘Eryn Lasgalen’ with the Battle Under the Trees and they’re shooting it down in Lincoln. Lee left Tuesday and he’ll be back sometime Sunday. Matt had to go to New York to deal with a situation at the design house he works for. He left at noon today and will be back sometime Monday. I love them both, but it’s kind of nice not having them hovering for a couple of days.” “Hovering? Why would they be doing that?” from Celeste. “I went out flying last weekend. Bill took me up for a lesson and then we had a less than smooth landing. The left side of my back was bruised really bad. Those two were almost beside themselves.” “Aww...but that’s cute though.” “It is. But there’s something going on with Lee. He was like a barnacle for the two days before he left and he kept getting between me and Matt. He kept saying it was because of my back, but there’s been something off with him since New Year’s.” 

Her text alert went off once and then another 5 times. Aisling laughed, “Speaking of...That’s probably him now. He does that when he’s upset about something.” She picked up her phone, it was actually 5 from Lee and one from Matt. She read the ones from Lee, they were pretty much a repeat of the day before. Then she looked at Matt’s. _“He’s driving me nuts with the texts. I miss him and I love him, but I’m going to strangle him._ ” Aisling laughed at that. “What’s going on?” Celeste asked. “Nothing. Lee is texting me and Matt...a lot...and it’s driving Matt up the wall. Let me answer them.” _“Please don’t. You don’t look good in orange._ ” to Matt. _“I miss you, too, babe. I love you._ ” Two seconds after she sent that to Lee, he sent another one, _“What are you wearing?” “A t-shirt and jeans.” “Well, that’s not exciting. How about you get rid of them?” “I think not. I’m having dinner with Stephanie and Celeste and I don’t think El Pinto would appreciate me stripping off.” “Damn...I guess not. We’re ready to start shooting again anyway._ ” “Is he OK?” Celeste asked. “He’s fine. I think he gets bored waiting around sometimes and he was trying to be dirty with me.” “Really? He doesn’t seem the type to do that.” “It’s always the quiet ones. He can be absolutely filthy.” They spent the rest of dinner catching up on everything else and just chit-chatting. Aisling got home around 8pm and spent the rest of the evening watching a movie and deciding that she would prefer to have them hovering. She didn’t like how quiet it was by herself. 

The next two days she got multiple texts from Lee and then a few from Matt about Lee driving him up the wall, reiterating his intention to throttle him. Aisling got him off that, suggesting that he punish him instead. Matt seemed to like that idea little too much. It seemed strange without her boys around and she couldn’t wait for them to get back. Sunday seemed like a long way off. 

Aisling was laying on the couch, watching a TV show when she heard the front door open around 8pm on Saturday. Lee walked in, went and dropped his bag in the office, came back into the living room and lifted her legs to sit down, leaning over to kiss her. “Hey, baby boy. I didn’t think you were getting back until tomorrow?” “We finished up sooner than expected and I couldn’t wait to get back here to you,” he said, running his hand up the inside of her thigh. “I missed you, too. Long 5 days.” He looked at what she was watching, which was “S.W.A.T.”. “That show has far too many attractive men for me to be comfortable with you watching it,” in a tone that sounded vaguely angry. She laughed, “Are you really concerned about guys on TV?” “No, not really. But I am really tired and I think it’s time for us to go to bed,” he said in that same vaguely angry tone, taking the remote out of her hand and started flipping channels. “What do you mean ‘us’?” she said, looking at him suspiciously. He didn’t say anything for a minute, still looking at the TV. “How’s your back?” he asked instead of answering her question, his hand wandering further up her thigh. “It’s fine, just a shadow of the bruising left. Now answer my question.” “Good. Just checking,” still not answering her question and suddenly standing up, turning off the TV, and heading towards the bedroom. Aisling sat there for a moment, wondering what was going on with him. 

Then she got up and followed him into the bedroom. He was coming out of the bathroom, already down to his boxer briefs. “What has gotten into you?” Aisling asked. “Nothing,” Lee said, advancing on her. He stopped right in front of her, and looked down at her. She saw that same look in his eyes that she had been seeing off and on since New Year’s. “Don’t give me that. There’s been something off with you since New Year’s.” He continued to just look at her. Suddenly, she found herself thrown on the bed. Before she could react, Lee was on her, not holding his weight off of her for once. He grabbed her hands and stretched her arms over her head, pinning them with one hand. The other hand coming down to grip under her jaw, “You are mine,” he growled before crushing his mouth to hers while wedging a leg between hers. When she gasped in shock, he took the opportunity to shove his tongue into her mouth. Soon he turned loose of her jaw, running his hand down to the hem of her t-shirt and pushing it up. He stopped when he got to her breast, rolling the nipple and then pinching hard enough for Aisling to jump and make a noise of surprise. He released her breast, but then his mouth replaced his hand. His tongue flicked across her nipple, started sucking on it, and then bit down, again just enough to hurt a little, causing Aisling to gasp again in surprise. His hand, meanwhile, had continued further down to slide under the waistband of her underpants and sliding down further, teasing her. She started squirming and just when she couldn’t take any more, he pushed his fingers into her, his mouth returning to plunder hers . But after a couple of rough strokes, he pulled out and resumed teasing her causing her to whine. He did this a few more times then he suddenly stopped and shifted taking his weight off her, but not releasing her hands. When he finally broke contact with her mouth, Aisling pulled in a lungful of air, “What the he…” “Shh...no talking,” Lee said, placing his hand over her mouth. He held her eyes for a moment and then turned her over, shifting his grip on her wrists and lowering his weight onto her again, sucking hard on the junction of her neck and shoulder for a minute. He shifted off of her and she could feel him moving, but couldn’t figure out what he was doing. He turned loose of her wrists briefly to pull her arms behind her back, crossing them, and returning to holding them with one hand. The other he slid underneath her and lifted her hips and she felt him wedge his legs in between. Then his hand slid out from under her and up around her rear and she felt him pulling her underpants to the side as he slammed into her. She gasped into the duvet. She had her answer of what he’d been doing. He pulled out and slammed into her again, still keeping hold of her wrists. “Lee...wha…” “I told you...no talking,” he said, smacking her ass. She gasped again, a little shocked. He turned loose of her hands, reaching under her to pull her up so that her back was flush against his front like he’d done the first time they’d made love. But where he’d been gentle there, he was decidedly rough now. He pounded up into her and when she dropped her head back, one hand came up to circle her throat, but he wasn’t squeezing, just holding her in place. She reached a hand up around the back of his head, pulling on his hair. She didn’t realize how hard she was pulling until she heard a hiss in her ear. He turned her head to plunder her mouth, growling again, “You...are...mine,” each word on a thrust. With that she was suddenly crying out and contracting around him, barely noticing him stilling, but she felt him latch onto her neck again and suddenly felt him spurting hot into her with such a deep groan that she shattered around him again. It was a couple of minutes before either of them recovered enough to move. Lee pushed so that they fell onto their sides, still buried deep in Aisling. They laid there, gasping for air and trying to regain their ability to speak. Aisling was the first to move, causing Lee to slide out of her, with a sound of disappointment from him. 

She turned to look at him and just stared hard at him for a couple of minutes. He still had his eyes closed and was breathing hard. “OK, sweetness, you want to tell me what that was all about?” she asked him quietly. He cracked one eye and this time she could see a little fear. “I...shit...you’re going to think I’m stupid.” “Babe, I don’t think you’re stupid. Now what’s gotten into your head?” “I’m afraid you and Matt are going to leave me for each other…” as a tear leaked out of the corner of his eye. “What?! That’s stupid!” “See? I said you’d think I was stupid.” “Baby, no, I don’t think you’re stupid. That thought is, but you’re not,” she said, moving closer to him and wiping the tears away. “Is that why you kept saying, ‘You are mine’? And why you’ve been so clingy for the last week? This has been bugging you since New Year’s, hasn’t it?” Lee nodded as more tears leaked out. Aisling moved closer, kissing the tears away, “Sweetness...I’m not going anywhere. Neither is Matt. We both love you too much.” “I know. It’s just that you two have spent so much time together and I’ve had to be away so much…” “And you’re exhausted, too. We can both see that. Speaking of...why don’t we straighten out the covers and we can go to sleep.” He looked at the bed, the duvet was on the floor and the sheet was halfway off the bed, “I kind of made a mess didn’t I?” he said with a slight smile. “Yes, you did, but it’s nothing we can’t fix,” Aisling said, kissing him. A couple of minutes later, she was pulling the sheets off completely. “Why are you changing the sheets now?” Lee asked, puzzled. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to sleep on a big wet spot tonight,” she said, “which is entirely your fault,” clearly teasing him. “Yeah...I didn’t hurt you did I?” “No. But you surprised me.” “Good surprised or bad surprised?” “Good. I wouldn’t be upset if you did something like that again, either. Now we both really do need to go to bed to sleep,” she said, smiling at the slightly shocked look on his face. 


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Sunday, Lee slept most of the day. Aisling had been right about him being exhausted. The location shoot and his worrying about her and Matt getting rid of him had stressed him beyond belief. Late in the afternoon, he finally wandered into the office where Aisling was just surfing around. He stopped behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, massaging lightly. “These pictures are what pushed you over the edge, aren’t they?” she asked softly, looking at the computer screen. “Yeah. A new camera person saw them and asked why, if you’re my girlfriend, were you kissing some other guy. So I had to explain...us.” “How did that go?” “She was actually fine with it.” “That’s good. Last thing you needed right then was the stress of someone judging our relationship.” “I don’t know why my mind went there, either.” Aisling stood up and turned around to face him. She placed her hands on either side of his face and pulled him down to kiss him, “We’re going to stay right beside you...always,” against his mouth. His arms came around her, hugging her tight, “I know.” After a few minutes, Aisling asked, “So what do you want to do tonight?” “I’m still really tired. I’m going to get a shower and then just hang out on the couch.” “OK, sounds good. Matt will be back sometime tomorrow evening. You do know you were driving him nuts with the texts, don’t you?” “Yeah. I need to make this up to him, too.” “Well, he wanted to strangle you, but I suggested that he punish you instead. He seemed to like that idea a little too much.” He turned to wander off to the bathroom, muttering “Yikes!” under his breath.

When Aisling woke up the next morning, she was surprised. Lee was actually sprawled out on his back instead of wrapped around her, with one arm over his face. His other arm was wrapped around under her. She rolled over and moved so that she was mostly laying on him. She ran her hand up over his shoulder, then lightly traced his collarbone, across the notch, over the other one. She traced down his breastbone then lightly circled around one nipple. He took in a deep breath, “What are you doing, little one?” he whispered. “You…” she answered, shifting down to flick his nipple with her tongue, as one hand wandered further down and took a soft but firm grip on him. “Minx,” he hissed. He reached down and tried to remove her hand. She smacked him with her other hand, “Keep your hands to yourself.” She started stroking slowly up and down while kissing and licking his chest. He sighed and squirmed a little, his legs getting restless. She rubbed her fingers over his swollen head a few times and then down his shaft again and repeated it a few more times. He started squirming more and making frustrated noises in the back of his throat. “Can I take that to mean you’re enjoying this?” she asked, noting his hand fisted in the sheet and twisting it. Her answer was some more nonsensical noises as his other hand trailed up her back, stopping to tangle in her hair at the nape of her neck. She smiled as she returned to kissing, softly nipping at places, on his chest while increasing the speed on his shaft, still stopping occasionally to run her fingers over the tip and spreading the leaking fluid down. Soon she could feel the muscles low in his abdomen starting to twitch and knew he was close. She slid up a little further, still stroking him, until she could whisper in his ear, “Come for me, babe.” At that he went rigid, his hips coming up off the bed, and she could feel him spurting warm over her hand as he groaned. After a few moments, he finally relaxed, and lowered back down onto the mattress, shaking a little. She turned loose, laying her hand down low on his stomach where she could still feel tremors every now and then. He was still breathing hard when he turned his head towards her, eyes closed. “Good morning,” she whispered, kissing him softly. “I can actually agree with that statement for once.”

Lee’s hand was still twisted in Aisling’s hair and he pulled on it gently to turn her head up so that he could kiss her deeply. He rolled them both over, not breaking contact with her mouth. His hand wandered down to one breast, gently massaging it. Then he broke the kiss moving down her throat and stopping at where his hand was, closing his mouth over the peak, sucking much more gently than he had Saturday. Aisling’s hand fisted in Lee’s hair, moving restlessly under him. His mouth released her breast and he continued his way down, kissing and nipping, until he got to the junction of her legs. He pushed them apart, lifting one over his shoulder, swiping the flat of his tongue up her core, causing her to whimper. He did it again before latching onto the bundle of nerves that was throbbing for his attention. Soon, not soon enough for Aisling, two of Lee’s fingers slowly slid into her. He dragged them out slowly, teasing her. “Please…” she whined. “Please, what? This?” he crooked his fingers a little. Her hips pushed up off the bed. He continued to stroke until she was almost twisting away from him. “Now it’s my turn...Come for me, babe,” he whispered against her, hitting her most sensitive spot with his fingers. Her hips came completely up off the bed and she did twist away from him, but he pulled her back, holding his fingers in place until he could feel the spasms die down. He withdrew his fingers and slid back up to kiss her as she was still gasping for breath.

Some time later, they had both finally gotten out of bed, showered, and dressed. Lee was still a little ashamed of the bruises he’d left on her wrists and neck, no matter how much Asling told him not to be. She realized that they needed some food and decided to head to the store, Lee trailing along with her. She had gotten through to him that she and Matt weren’t going anywhere. But now, where he’d been clingy before, he was being handsy. Which resulted in a couple disapproving looks from some old ladies. Especially when they were waiting in line to check out. Aisling was leaning on the handle of the cart, as was Lee. He was so close behind her, he was practically in her back pocket. He leaned down to nuzzle her neck and she turned her head to kiss him. They were startled by someone behind them loudly clearing their throat. They broke apart, Aisling laughing into his neck because he was blushing.

On the way home, Aisling’s phone went off. It was a Bill text from wondering if she’d be available to go out the next morning. She checked with Lee. “Would you mind?” “No, I just want your promise that you’ll keep your feet on the ground.” “I promise. In fact, I’ll just run the fan. They probably won’t let me do too much anyway.” “It’ll give me some time to fix things with Matt, too.” While they were putting up the groceries, Lee’s phone went off. “Oh, hey Alex. What’s up?” “I should be asking you the same thing, mister,” she said, trying to sound annoyed with him, but she just couldn’t do it. “About what?” “Well, that picture of Aisling and Matt for one thing. What is going on there?” “Oh, that...Well, it’s not really a long story. He called her and caused a fight between Aisling and me. Then he showed up here. We cleared the air between us. Decided to try to stay friends. As you can see by the pictures , Matt and Aisling are more than friends now.” “OK, so where does that leave you? Where are you staying?” “I’m still with Aisling. All three of us are together now.” There was silence on the line for a moment. “As long as you’re happy. I could tell from the beginning that Aisling was good for you.” “I am...that can’t be the only reason you called.” “No, it’s not. Although I’m happy for you. Actually remember that the ABQ Comic Con was supposed to be at the end of January?” “I was wondering about that, since it’s the end of January now and I hadn’t been contacted by anyone about it.” “That’s because the date has been pushed back to the 15th and 16th of February. Are you still interested in participating?” “Sure. We’ll be done filming by then, hopefully.” “What’s that mean?” “You know how it was supposed to be 10 episodes? They’ve added on at least one more. I just spent the week down in the Lincoln National Forest filming battle scenes for the Battle Under the Trees.” “Wow. Guess Nextflix is really confident about this series.” “Seems that way. Can both Matt and Aisling come with me?” “I don’t see why not. You know how these things do what they can to keep the talent happy. I’ll be sending you the details, schedule, passes, and whatever else sometime this week. I really am happy that you’re happy. Talk to you soon.” Aisling looked at him, “What did Alex want?” “They’ve rescheduled the ABQ Comic Con for the middle of February.” “Well, I hope you have fun.” “Oh, I will. You two are coming with me.” “Are you sure? It did get taken over by the same bunch that did the other one and we all know how that turned out.” “You mean it was the best thing that ever happened to me?” Aisling rolled her eyes. “Yes, I want both of you there. If Michael what’s-his-name has an issue with you being there, he can bite me.” “No he can’t. There’s only two people on this planet allowed to bite you.” 

Matt texted that he’d be in about 8:30pm. They got dinner and wound up on the couch watching “Worst Cooks in America,” the only so-called reality program either of them could stand. Watching the poor sods cooking their signature dishes, two of which, none of the judges would even taste, was hilarious. Aisling was sitting in the corner on one end of the couch and Lee had stretched out with his head on a pillow in her lap. A little after 8pm, Aisling realized that he wasn’t laughing at the judges’ reactions to a particularly disgusting “signature dish”. She looked down and his eyes were almost closed. She smoothed his hair back, “Go to sleep, sweetness.” “But Matt’s going to be here soon,” he whined. “You know he won’t be mad if you’re asleep. He knows you’re exhausted.” A few minutes later, Lee turned so that he was facing into her chest and snaked an arm around her. A big sigh came out of him and she felt him relax. Right around 8:30pm, the front door opened, and Matt walked in, saying loudly, “Honeys, I’m…” but stopped when he heard Aisling shushing him. “Oops...how long has he had you trapped like that?” “Not long, only about a half hour. How was your trip?” “Warfare was prevented,” walking into the bedroom to drop his bag. He came back in and walked over to kiss Aisling. “I see you apparently got some things worked out,” lightly running his fingers over the mark on her neck. “Yes, we did. Why don’t you help me get him into bed and I’ll tell you about it. I need to turn in early anyway. I’m going out with the balloon tomorrow morning.” “Seriously? You know how we feel about that.” “I do. I’ve already promised Lee that I will stay firmly on the ground. I’m only going to handle the fan.”

Getting Lee into bed was easier than they thought it would be. After they got him settled, Aisling sat on the end of the bed while Matt put his things away and filled him in on what had been going on in Lee’s mind. “I hadn’t even known anyone had recognized us, let alone took any pictures.” “That’s what tipped him over. To top it off, it was a new crew member down at the shoot that found the pictures and questioned him about it. You know that the crew up here knows about us and really doesn’t care, but he didn’t know how this woman was going to react. Luckily, she doesn’t seem to have an issue. But I guess you and I spending so much time together and him being worn out, especially with this location shoot thrown at them at the last minute...his imagination just started working overtime.” “So he’s OK now?” “Pretty much. Except he can’t seem to keep his hands off me.” “Oh, great. That means he’s going to be all over me, too.” “Like you’re really going to complain about that. Oh, and Alex called earlier, too.” “About what?” “For one thing, she was wondering what exactly was going on with us. But you knew she’d be fine with it. She’s known him for how long, and just wants him to be happy. She was calling, too, about the ABQ Comic Con. It’s gotten pushed to the middle of February. He’s still planning on appearing and we’re going with him.” “That could be a little awkward for you, though, couldn’t it?” “It could. But I don’t really care. I don’t regret a thing that happened in August and it’s really none of their business why I’m there.” Matt was tired, too and decided to call it a night. They both crawled into bed, one on either side of Lee, and went to sleep.

Morning came too quickly for Aisling’s liking, but she got up and got ready as quietly as she could. She stopped in the bedroom again before leaving, neither of her boys were awake, but she still kissed both of them and headed out. Lee woke up later, panicking for a moment that Aisling wasn’t there, then remembering she had been planning on leaving around 6:30am. He looked at the clock and it was about 7:30am. He scrubbed his hand down his face, turning his head to see that Matt was still asleep. He moved over closer, cupping his cheek and running his thumb over Matt’s bottom lip. Matt’s breathing changed and his eyes fluttered open. “Hey there. I hear you’ve been having some silly thoughts lately.” “Yes, I have...and I’m sorry.” “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. We all go off the deep end occasionally. But you’ve got us here to pull you back. We’re not going anywhere,” Matt said sliding his hand around the back of Lee’s neck and pulling him closer to kiss him deeply. They broke apart and laid there for a few minutes. Then Lee swung his legs over the side of the bed, “I’m going to go get a shower,” and headed into the bathroom. Matt waited a couple of minutes and then followed him in. Lee had just gotten his hair wet when Matt stepped in and shoved him up against the wall, crushing his mouth to him. “Wha…” Lee gasped. “Shut up...turn around,” Matt ordered, pushing him around and spreading Lee’s legs out. He let the water spray onto Lee’s back, running his hand down his backside, pushing his thumb in and out, causing Lee to moan a little. He figured that was enough, positioned himself, and pushed up into Lee. He pulled out almost all the way before slamming back in. He then started thrusting more gently, reaching around to grasp Lee in his hand, stroking up and down gently, his other hand on Lee’s hip. Soon, he started moving faster and could then feel the muscles in Lee’s abdomen tighten and could feel him pulsing in his hand. This caused him to jerk and empty himself into Lee. They stood panting for a moment then both leaned forward, Lee against the wall, Matt against his back, sliding out of him, his arm still around him. They stayed like this for a few minutes. Matt kissed the back of Lee’s neck, “Do you get it now? We’re not leaving you.” He turned around to look at Matt. “I know. I always did know. I think I was just a little jealous, too, because you got to spend so much more time together without me.” “That really is silly. If you ever start feeling like we’re leaving you out again, just tell us, you dummy.” “I will. Now can we finish this shower before we run out of hot water?” 

Around 10am Aisling got back from ballooning. Lee and Matt were in the office looking at something on Lee’s computer. “Hey. You’re back! And all in one piece this time,” Matt said, stepping to block her view of the computer screen while Lee scrambled to close the page. “Yep. We had plenty of crew so all I had to do was get the fan out and put it back. Not even a sore muscle this time. Happy?” She wondered what they didn’t want her to see, but was willing to let them have their secret. She walked over behind Lee’s chair draping her arms down around his shoulders, “When do you have to go back to the studio?” “Tomorrow, but not until 10am.” “Damn, they’re not giving any of you a whole lot of time to rest from the shoot.” “It’s not going to be for long. They’re actually just doing some sound pick-ups. So maybe about 5pm? Then I don’t have to be back until Friday.” “That’s good,” Matt piped up, “We can go do that thing Thursday.” “What ‘thing’?” Aisling asked. “Nothing you need to be concerned about,” Lee said, lifting one of her hands to kiss the palm.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The next couple of weeks, Lee had to go to the studio every couple of days or so. Mostly for sound work. Some scenes needed to be reshot from a different angle. But nothing too late. A couple of times, Lee and Matt had something they insisted that they needed to go do without Aisling. She wasn’t sure what they were up to, but given that it was coming up on not only Valentine’s Day, but also her and Lee’s 6-month anniversary, she figured it had something to do with that. The middle of the second week, the packet for ABQ Comic Con finally got there. There was a note from Alex griping at how late they’d waited to send it. “This should be interesting,” Aisling said, looking at the all access passes that had their names on them, which guest they were with, and who the handler was. “Looks like I’m getting special treatment and head-honcho Michael.”

Friday morning, Matt and Lee had an errand they insisted they had to run. “But think about what you’re going to wear tonight,” Matt told Aisling. “I was thinking sweats?” “No, no, no. You need to get dressed up. We’re taking you out to dinner.” “OK, where?” “D. H. Lescombes. I know that’s where Lee took you and I thought it would be appropriate for tonight.” “What are you two planning anyway,” Aisling said, eyeing him suspiciously. “You’ll see at dinner,” Lee said from behind her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck.

Try as she might, Aisling couldn’t get a thing out of either Lee or Matt about what they had planned. Finally the time for them to leave for their 7pm reservation rolled around. Aisling had on a long, black, one-shoulder column dress with a cut-out at the waist on the side opposite her bare shoulder. She had left her hair down in loose curls. Lee was wearing a dark blue suit with a light blue shirt with no tie and the top two buttons undone. Matt was wearing a charcoal gray suit with a dark purple-gray shirt, similarly unbuttoned. When they got to the restaurant, they were taken right to their table. Dinner was it’s usual perfection. Lee had taken the liberty of already ordering dessert when he made the reservation. While they were waiting for dessert, Aisling excused herself to the ladies room. When she got back, there was a box setting in the middle of her place setting. She gave them both puzzled look. “Open it,” Matt said. She picked it up, recognizing it as coming from the jewelry department at the studio. Inside, cushioned in black velvet was a ring. It was palladium in a Celtic love knot design. Set in the middle of it were two gems, one aquamarine and one opal, their birthstones. “What’s this?” she asked, looking at both of them. “We thought you needed something that was from both of us,” Lee said, taking the box out of her hand and setting it down. He took her left hand and slid her Celtic band off. Matt took the ring and put it on her finger and put the Celtic band back on. “You know what kind of rumors this is going to start, don’t you,” she said. “I don’t care,” Lee said, “It’s nobody’s business but ours.” He lifted her hand, turning it over and kissing the palm. Right then, dessert was delivered along with three glasses of sparkling wine.

When they got home, Lee said, “As much as I’d like to continue this celebration of ours, we can’t,” as he was walking through to the bedroom. “Why not?” Aisling asked, pouting, “I had ideas.” “Well, hold on to them. We have to be at the Convention Center early.” “What time do we need to be there again?” Matt asked. “At 7am...and you both need to pack an overnight bag.” “Why?” Aisling asked, looking at him suspiciously. “Because we’re not coming back here tomorrow night. I figured since I need to be back early on Sunday, too, it would just be easier to stay down there.” “Oh, really? And just where did you decide it would be easier for us to stay?” “Some place you’ll recognize…” “Some place I’ll recognize? You don’t mean…?” “Hey, you two want to let me in on it,” Matt said. “He’s got that same suite at the Doubletree that he was in last August..” “At least I don’t need to find an excuse to get some more time with you. By the way I’ve also already gotten a table at Lounge 201 and ordered dinner. So bring something nice to wear.” “You’ve just thought of everything, haven’t you?” Matt said, laughing, “Do we at least get to choose our own clothes?” “Ha ha. I’m just trying to make up for my idiocy lately.” “Baby, that was a couple weeks ago! I keep telling you, you don’t have to,” Aisling said from the closet where she’d been hanging her dress up. She pulled her overnight bag down off the shelf and started looking to see what she wanted to take. She stopped and thought for a minute. Then she smiled to herself and put a few things in the bag and then took her garment bag and put a dress in there, closing both to keep any prying eyes out. Then she pulled on a tank top and shorts to sleep in. “What?” she asked, noticing both Matt and Lee looking at her a little surprised as she came out of the closet. “Nothing,” Matt said, “you just don’t usually sleep in anything.” “I figured I’d better remove any temptation.” “You’re really not,” Lee said, “we know what’s under there.” “Yeah, well, you’re just going to have to control yourselves until tomorrow night.” “What do you mean by that?” Matt asked. “You’ll find out…” Aisling said, as she pulled the covers back and crawled in bed. Lee turned out the lights and both he and Matt joined her. But neither one was even touching her. She laid there for a minute, _“Oh, so they’re going to act like toddlers? OK, fine. Let’s see how long they last,_ ” she thought to herself. She didn’t say anything. A couple of minutes passed and she started to doze off when she felt an arm snake around her waist. “I can’t sleep in the same bed with you and not touch you,” Lee whispered sleepily as he moved over and pulled her into his side.

5am came way too early the next morning. Aisling was the first out of bed and had just gotten in the shower when Lee joined her with the usual scowl on his face. She pulled him down to kiss him, gently biting his bottom lip. He resisted a bit, but finally gave in with a sigh, yielding to her. After a couple of minutes they broke apart and he turned her around to wash her hair. About 20 minutes later, they were out and Lee had wandered out into the kitchen, looking for something to eat. Aisling was finishing up her make-up when Matt came in, scowling and just getting into the shower without saying a word to her. She looked at the shower door in surprise, wondering what that was all about. She shook her head. Great, now she had two cranky giants to deal with. She finished up and went to see what cranky giant number one was up to. She found him in the kitchen, just staring at the toaster. “What’s so fascinating about the toaster, babe?” she asked, laughing a little at him. “Nothing. Just thinking about the last time I did one of these.” “Oh, yes? Are you planning on chatting up your handler again?” “Michael? Oh, gods, no,” he said with a look of almost horror as the toaster popped up the bagel that was in there. Aisling laughed at him, “Good. I certainly wouldn’t be thrilled about that at all. I don’t think Matt would be either.” “Matt wouldn’t be either, what?” Matt said as he came into the kitchen, stopping to pull Aisling to him for a kiss. “Well that’s better than the dirty look you gave me earlier. What was that all about?” “Just didn’t like waking up alone in bed.” “You’d been alone in bed for 20 minutes, you dork,” Lee said as he passed Aisling a bagel half smeared with cream cheese, “hurry up and get something to eat so we can leave. I’d like some time to settle in after the press interviews and before the hoards show up.”

They got to the convention center about 6:30 and Lee was whisked away to do some interviews with the local news stations. Since Matt and Aisling had their all-access passes that had their own specific lanyards, they just wandered around to see what was going on and who else was going to be there. Aisling was looking at one booth that had some really gorgeous artwork, one in particular that she knew Lee would love. She’d have to make sure to get back over and get it for him without him seeing it. Matt had wandered off to another one. She had turned around to see where Matt had gotten to when all of a sudden Michael stepped in front of her. “What in hell do you think you’re doing here? How the hell did you get that pass?” he demanded. “I’m here with…” “No, you’re not. I told you last August you were banned from being a volunteer ever again.” “I’m not volunteering. I’m here with one of your guests!” “Sure you are. Now I don’t know how you got that pass, but I’m going to have to ask you to hand it over and leave before I have you escorted out.” “What the hell do you think you’re doing threatening her?” She heard Matt ask from behind her, “We’re both here with Lee Pace and if you don’t want him to pull out, you need to quit harassing her,” he said, placing both hands on her shoulders and pulling her back against him. “What the hell do you mean, she’s here with Lee Pace? I banned her from volunteering in August!” “You don’t get it, do you?” Matt said, “She’s not here as one of your volunteers…” “I know that. I just said she’s been barred from ever volunteering…” “And Matt just told you she’s here with me. Do you have a problem with that?” they all heard Lee ask from close behind Michael, sounding pretty pissed. Michael turned to find Lee looming over him, “Someone told me you were over here giving Aisling a hard time and threatening to kick her out,” stepping around Michael and stepping in between him and Aisling, “Are you OK, baby?” he asked, looking down at her, running his hands down her arms.. “I’m fine. Michael was just a little confused as to why I’m here. But we’ve got it worked out, don’t we?” she said to Michael, looking around Lee, who turned to glare at him. “Yeah...sorry. If you need anything at all…” “There is one thing I’d like,” Lee said, turning around and looking down his nose at Michael, “I’d like a different handler for this. I’m not comfortable with you being around Aisling” “Sure, sure, no problem. I’ll have someone new meet you at your table. I’ll go arrange that now,” Michael said, leaving in a hurry. “Seriously, are you OK, babe?” Lee asked as Matt turned loose of her and Lee wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. “I’m fine. I knew he couldn’t really do anything. Matt wasn’t that far away. I was actually getting ready to suggest that Michael call you when you showed up.” “He really just needs to stay out of my way for the rest of this weekend.”

On their way over to the area set up for Lee, he got stopped by someone, so Matt and Aisling continued on. When they got there, the new handler was there as promised. It happened to be someone Aisling had worked with and gotten along with quite well in August. “Oh my gods, Julia! How are you?” she exclaimed. “Aisling! How did you get in here? I thought that Michael was going to shit a brick when he saw you,” as she hugged Aisling. “Yeah, someone told Lee that Michael was giving me a hard time and he came and had a little ‘chat’ with him. He’s why you’re working with Lee for this and not him. I’m actually here with Lee.” “I heard that Michael barred you from working at any of the cons he controls. I thought it was bullshit, too, why he did that. So are you working for Lee now? How did that happen?” “No, I’m not working for him. I know you heard the rumors about what happened in August. We’ve been together since then.” “Seriously?!” she said, with a slightly confused look as Matt, who was standing behind Aisling, wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, “I mean, we all saw that picture of how he was looking at you, but I thought he left right after?” “He did. But then Netflix green-lit a series about Thranduil and they’ve been filming it at ABQ Studios. He came back at the beginning of October and he moved in with me,” she said, reaching up to wrap her left hand around Matt’s arm. Julia noticed the rings on Aisling’s left hand. She grabbed it, “Don’t tell me you two are married?” but the end of the question sounded a little confused when she noticed the same band on Matt’s left hand. About that time Aisling realized why Julia was confused, “Oh my gods, I’m so sorry. This is Matt.” “Hi...Matt…aren’t you…?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. “But you said you and Lee…?” she said, looking at Aisling and still a little confused. “Yeah, we are.” All of a sudden, the light bulb went off for Julia, “Oh! Can’t say that I’m not a little jealous of you,” she said smiling and winking at Aisling. “We need to sit down and catch up because you’ve obviously had a lot going on since August.” “Yes, we do. How about this afternoon when Lee has all those press interviews? He won’t need you and I’d get bored out of my mind listening to him have to give the same answers over and over and over.” “That sounds like a plan.” Before they could talk anymore, Lee came back and they got busy with everything.

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. Although Aisling and Matt did notice quite a few curious looks thrown their way, Lee was completely oblivious. Later in the afternoon, they were getting set for the photo ops and Lee once again grabbed Aisling to use as a test subject. Just like before, he wouldn’t turn loose of her, but now they weren’t having to hide any attraction. It was nice, too, that there was no worrying about any creepy stalker chick. Although there was one girl that Aisling thought was getting a little too familiar with Lee. When she got done taking a picture with him and was picking up her stuff to leave, Aisling walked over to the chair that Lee had sat down in, sat down on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him, swiping her tongue across his bottom lip. She could hear a slight growl in the back of his throat as his lips parted and he pushed into her mouth. She could see the girl’s face and there was a look of pure jealousy written across her features. She knew she didn’t have anything to worry about, but she couldn’t help feeling a little possessive sometimes. The photographer needed to reset some lights and needed some more test shots. Lee was standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders and fingers spread out, lightly rubbing her neck. He leaned down and said softly, “Just so you know, we’re having dessert in our room tonight so we can finish what we started last night,” his lips lightly grazing her ear. She turned her head and asked, “What is dessert going to be?” she asked against his lips. “You’re just going to have to wait,” he said rubbing against her mouth.

After they were done with the photographs, Lee had to go do some more press interviews. Matt had seen a few things he wanted to check out and Aisling and Julia went to get something to drink and find somewhere to sit so they could catch up. As soon as both the guys were out of earshot, she looked at Julia, “There’s something I want to go get from one of the vendors before we go sit down. There’s a gorgeous drawing of all the characters that Lee’s played that he’d love.” They went to the booth and she had them wrap it up so that she could keep it as a surprise. Then they stopped for some drinks before finding a place to sit. They lucked into a couple of the loveseats in the big atrium area. When they got settled Julia grabbed her left hand, “I want to hear about this before you tell me anything else. You said you weren’t married, but are you engaged to one of them?” “No, I’m not. This one,” she said, taking off the Celtic band, “Lee had one made for all of us at Christmas.” “It looks a little like a wedding band.” “Yeah it does. It’s kind of the same idea behind it.” “Now the other one. That is stunning.” “Matt and Lee did a good job on this. It’s a Celtic love knot and the stones are their birthstones.” “Aww...that is so sweet.” “They wanted me to have something from both of them. They actually just gave it to me last night. Kind of a combination Valentine’s Day and mine and Lee’s six month anniversary present.” “Now, fill me in on how you got from those pictures in August to being here with both of them.” Over the next couple of hours, Aisling told Julia everything that had happened, starting with when Lee had found her in the lobby to Michael trying to kick her out that morning. Matt found them at some point, sitting down next to Aisling. He turned, swinging his legs up over the armrest of the loveseat and leaned up against Aisling. She moved her arm out from under him and laid it over his chest. “Hey, boo. We were just talking about you.” “About how great I am and how lucky you are?” Aisling rolled her eyes at Julia, “You see what I have to put up with? No, about much of a pain the ass you can be.” “Yeah, but you love me.” “Lucky for you I do.” Julia was watching them and had been watching the three of them all morning. She had wondered if maybe that two of them were mainly a couple and then the third joined in occasionally, but she honestly didn’t see that. They were all equally attentive to each other. She glanced at her watch, “Hey we better get back over there. Lee should be getting done in about 10 minutes.” When he got back, they checked with Julia when he needed to be back in the morning and headed over to the car to get their stuff and get checked into their room. 

“I still can’t believe you got the same suite as last August.” Aisling said as the elevator took them up. “Well, why not? We had a good time and now we can have an even better time.” “We could have had the better time then, you know.” “Believe me, I wanted to, but I didn’t want to be ‘that guy’.” “You could never be ‘that guy’, sweetness. It’s not in you.” “No, it’s not. My mama done raised me better than that.” Matt just rolled his eyes at the overdone Texas drawl as the elevator doors opened. Once they got in the room, Aisling opened the blinds. “So this is what the view looks like.” “Didn’t you already know that?” Matt asked, coming to stand behind her wrapping one arm around her waist. “No. When I was up here, there was one hell of a storm going on and then the power went out. I didn’t even get a really good look at the room. I didn’t even really notice there was a fireplace,” she said, gesturing at it. “Well, you can look later, we need to get changed for dinner,” Lee said from over in the bedroom. “What are you talking about?” Matt asked, “it’s early.” “We’re having dinner a little earlier because we’re having dessert here,” Lee said. “Ohhh…” Matt said, catching the look in Lee’s eyes. Aisling elected to use the bathroom to change in because she needed the door closed. She didn’t want either of them to see a couple of things until later. It didn’t take her long. She pulled her hair over into a loose side ponytail. Then she put on the very little amount of underwear she had decided on. She knew her panties alone were going to leave them speechless. Black silk bikinis with dragonscale maille on the front, knowing her dress wasn’t going to give a single hint to them. She then stepped into her dress. It was a floor length, very soft, fine stretchy velvet in sky blue. The front neckline was anchored at each shoulder, but was draped down to just below her hips. It looked very sedate, but the back was where the action was. Two very thin straps ran down the sides of her back, meeting in a very deep V where there was fabric gathered and left to fall almost in a train. On the left back side, there was a very high slit. This was where she knew there was a chance of them not getting out of the room. She had elected to go with some very lacy-topped thigh-high black hosiery that she knew they’d be able to see the top of if they were walking behind her. She also knew the 4-inch black stilettos were playing with fire. Then she added just a little eye shadow and a deep, blood-red matte lipstick. The only jewelry she wore were her rings and sapphire stud earrings. Within a half hour, she was ready.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

When she stepped out of the bathroom, she could hear Lee and Matt out in the other room, bickering about something. She smiled to herself, grabbed her clutch, and walked out of the bedroom. Matt had his back to her, but Lee was facing her. He stopped talking in the middle of a word, his eyes went wide, and his jaw just dropped. “What’s the ma…” Matt started to say, but stopped speaking too as he turned and got a look at Aisling. “It’s not often that both of you are rendered speechless,” she said, laughing at them. “Babe, you look…” Lee fumbled. “Stunning, baby girl,” Matt finished for him. “You two clean up pretty good yourselves,” looking them both over. Lee had a dark crimson, low-cut double-breasted waistcoat over a crisp white shirt with the top three buttons undone and black dress pants. Matt’s had a traditional cut waistcoat but in a light grey with mauve pinstripes. He also had a white shirt, but only the top button was undone, and grey dress pants. “What time is our reservation?” Aisling asked. Lee glanced at the clock, “In about 10 minutes.” “So I guess we should head down then?” “Yes, we should.” Matt opened the door and gestured to Aisling, “After you, milady.” She knew she was going to have to do some work to keep them from getting a good look at the back of her dress. So she stepped out into the hall and immediately turned and stepped back a bit to wait for them. Luckily, they did what she had hoped they’d do with them moving to either side of her. She just needed to get them off the elevator before they saw anything with the back of her dress. She knew Lee at least had already gotten a pretty good look at the back because in the elevator, he kept running his fingers up and down her spine. She was pretty sure Matt had, too, because when they got seated in the restaurant, he seemed to have a little trouble getting comfortable. “Something wrong there, boo?” Aisling asked him sweetly. He glared at her, “Just wait until we get you alone again.” Before she could make any other teasing comment, their waiter was setting down three glasses of wine. “You really did think of everything,” Aisling said to Lee. “You have no idea,” he replied with a smirk on his face. “You never did tell me what was for dessert.” “You’re just going to have to wait until we get back to the room.” They talked a little about the fans that they had seen so far. Lee was complaining a little about getting asked the same 10 questions over and over and over with the press interviews. Within about 15 minutes, dinner was brought out. “Chateaubriand is usually for two. How’d you get them to make it for three?” Matt asked. “It’s amazing what you can get people to do if you know how to sweet talk them just right.” “Don’t I know it. We’ve both been the target of that sweet talking,” Aisling said, winking at Matt. Lee looked at Aisling, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, what’s that wrapped in the brown paper?” “Like you told me about dessert, you’ll just have to wait.”

After a nice, leisurely dinner and another couple glasses of wine, they decided to make their way back to the room. Aisling made sure that she was in front of them this time. She headed in the direction of the elevators waiting for their reactions. She knew how the back of the dress swished, giving a glimpse of the slit in the back and exaggerated the sway of her hips to make the fabric move more. She suddenly realized that they had both stopped. She turned to look over her shoulder and had to work very hard not to laugh. Both of their mouths were hanging open. “Are you two just going to stand there or are you coming with me?” winking at them. That got them moving. As soon as the doors on the elevator closed, Lee trapped her by placing both hands on the wall on either side of her head, “You are playing with fire, minx.” “You haven’t seen anything yet,” she said smirking as she watched his pupils dilate. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, “Neither have you,” the words filled with a dark intent. The doors finally opened on their floor and while Lee went ahead to open the door, Matt pinned her up against the hallway wall, “He was right about you playing a dangerous game.” “Maybe, maybe not, but we can’t find out here in the hall.”

When she walked into the room, she stopped short and gasped a little. “When did...how…?” While they had been having dinner, Lee had arranged for the staff to come in and transform the living room area. Soft music was playing, she was pretty sure it was John Legend. The coffee table had been moved out, the couch pushed back against the wall. In front of the fireplace now, with a fire burning brightly in it, were several large soft pillows, soft blankets, a chilled bottle of Champagne, and two containers...one of honey with a dipper and one of coconut oil set just close enough to the fireplace to keep them warm. “Since we didn’t get to finish celebrating last night, I wanted this to be special…” Aisling turned around to face him, “It’s perfect...” Matt walked over to him, “I wondered what you were up to earlier,” pulling him in for a deep kiss while unbuttoning Lee’s waistcoat and shirt. Lee’s hand came up around the back of Matt’s neck, gripping hard while his other hand busied itself unbuttoning Matt’s clothing. Aisling watched them for a moment, she would never get tired of watching them together, but right now...“Hey, as hot as you two are, and believe me, you are hot, I’m feeling a little left out over here,” she said. They broke apart and looked at her pouting. “Oh we’re terribly sorry, little one, come here,” Lee said, coming over to her. He bent down to kiss her, nipping at her bottom lip as her hands were busy undoing his pants and pushing them down as far as she could. “Well, now I’m feeling left out,” Matt huffed, having rid himself of his waistcoat and shirt. Without breaking contact with Lee, Aisling reached a hand behind her to him. When he took it, she pulled him closer, breaking with Lee and turning around to work on Matt’s pants while lightly rubbing her mouth across his chest. His arms came up and she heard the sound of Lee’s clothes hitting the floor. One of his hands traced lightly up and down her arm and when she looked up, they were kissing. The sight never failed to take her breath away. Soon they broke apart. They had both managed to get rid of their pants in the process. Aisling had been so distracted watching them kissing, she had no idea how. But now Lee looked down, “I think someone is still over dressed. He lightly ran his hand up her bare back, causing her to shiver. “Yes, I think you’re right. We need to fix that,” Matt said, hooking his fingers under the shoulder straps of her dress and pulling it down revealing the fact that she was wearing nothing under the top. “Oh, you little minx,” Lee breathed, his mouth latching onto her neck, his hands coming up to cup her breasts, rolling her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. She arched back into him with a sharp intake of breath. Matt continued pulling her dress down. He stopped to ease it down over the curve of her ass and then stopped when the front of her panties were revealed. Aisling smiled as he just stared for a moment at the maille on the front of them. “What are you looking at?” Lee whispered, detaching his mouth from her neck. “Let me finish getting this dress off her and I’ll show you,” Matt said. Lee ran one hand down her stomach to investigate on his own. When his fingers hit the cool metal of the rings, he stopped and he slid his finger across the top. Then his fingers dipped underneath the waistband and continued down finding her wet already as he rubbed a finger over her and pushed into her, earning a little moan in the back of her throat. Matt finally pushed the dress down over her hips and let it fall to pool on the floor around her feet. Lee pulled his hand out, both hands coming to her waist to lift her out of the puddle of fabric, setting her down, and turning her to face him. “Now let’s see what had Matt st..sta...sta…” the word died on his tongue as he took in the sight before him. “Oh, my god, baby…you are so beautiful,” he said stepping forward to sweep her up off her feet, capturing her mouth in a deep kiss.

He took her over and laid her gently down on the blankets in front of the fireplace. Matt followed quickly after turning off the lights leaving them bathed in only firelight. While Lee was leaning over to get the honey, Matt took the opportunity to kiss her as well, “You really are beautiful,” he said against her lips. She jumped as she felt something warm drip on her breast. “Sorry,” she felt Lee’s breath against her skin before she felt his tongue follow the honey. Matt had taken the dipper from him and let some honey drip onto her other breast and his tongue followed that trail. Both of them closed around the peak of each breast at the same time. Neither of them were doing the same thing at the same time, one was sucking the other lightly biting or circling her nipples with their tongues. Her hands came up to the back of both of their heads. Soon her back was arching up off the blanket. They both released her breasts and Lee dipped the dipper back in the honey and let it drizzle all around her torso. “Matt, it looks like we’ve got a sticky mess to clean up here,” Lee said. “We’d better get to work then,” Matt whispered. They spent several minutes going over every inch of her skin with their tongues several times making sure they cleaned up every bit of honey. Lee shifted to straddle her legs mid-thigh. “Now about this pair of panties that you’re wearing, missy,” “Don’t you like them?” Aisling pouted. “I love them. But I think they’d look better tossed over to the side,” he said as he hooked his thumbs into the sides and slid them down her legs before pulling them off and tossing them to land somewhere. “The shoes and these,” he said smoothing his hand over her calf, kissing the inside of her leg, “are very, very sexy and they’re staying.” He started working his way up, kissing the inside of one leg but stopped at the top of her hose. He was expecting a grab at his hair and was surprised when it didn't happen. He looked up and saw why. Matt had drizzled some more honey over her breasts and was keeping her attention diverted just enough, both her hands fisted in his hair. So Lee shuffled down again and worked his way up the inside of the other leg, this time bending her knee and pushing her leg out. The honey was in his reach too, so he grabbed the dipper and drizzled some down onto her clit and the surrounding area. He put the dipper back into the pot and then his mouth closed over her, smiling as she gasped. Her other leg came up and wrapped around his back. He pushed the one out farther causing her back to arch a little. He glanced up again and saw that Matt was sucking on one breast and rolling the nipple of the other between his fingers. Lee turned his attention back to what he was doing, dipping two fingers into the honey and then slowly pushed them into her. He smiled against her at the “Oh, fuck!” and some other nonsensical sounds he heard come out of her mouth. He didn’t move for several seconds until Aisling gathered herself enough to get a hand into his hair and pulled hard. He started dragging his fingers in and out slowly, having a different angle because of how far he had her leg pushed out. She twisted some, but he held her and Matt flattened his hand on her ribcage to hold her in place. She pulled hard on Matt’s hair, too, with the hand that had remained there.. After a few more slow strokes, almost pulling his fingers out entirely, Lee sped up and within seconds he could feel her contracting hard enough that he couldn’t pull his fingers out, the hip on the side of the leg that he was holding came up off the ground as she tried to arch up off the ground, pulling hard on their hair. He continued sucking and moving his fingers as much as he could until he could feel her slowly relaxing. He looked up to see why there hadn’t been the scream he was expecting to see that Matt had moved and his mouth was on hers, hand smoothing her hair back and her breathing slowly returned to normal. He slowly pulled his fingers out and released her leg.

Lee moved to her other side and moved up. Matt and Aisling broke apart. “Are you OK, baby?” Lee asked her, smoothing her hair, too, and kissing her temple. “I’m...damn…” “It’s not often that you are speechless either, little one.” he laughed. He went up on his knees and soon there was a soft pop. “Here,” he said, handing Aisling the bottle, “have a drink and catch your breath.” She took the bottle, looking at him with an arched brow, “No glasses?” “They’d be too easy to knock over and I don’t want anything here that can hurt either of you,” he said, kissing her shoulder. She took a long drink out of the bottle before handing it to Matt. “Ever practical,” he smirked as he took the bottle from her, leaning in to kiss her before taking a drink himself. He handed it back to Lee, who took a very long drink. He set the bottle down, turning back to them, seeing that they had both laid back to rest on the soft pillows. 

Lee moved to lay down next to them, lightly tracing patterns on Aisling’s skin with his fingers. He leaned in and captured her lips in a deep kiss, his hand reaching around her hip and pulling her in close to him. He rolled onto his back, taking her with him and settling her on top of him. She was vaguely aware of Matt reaching over them and then settling next to them. A couple of moments later, she felt him smoothing his hands over her back and the sweet scent of coconut filled the air. Matt continued softly kneading the muscles of her back, hearing her sigh and relaxing. She broke away from Lee, trailing kisses down his throat, stopping to swirl her tongue in the notch. His hands trailing up her sides as she lifted her arms to rest on the ground on either side of his head. She then worked her way back up his neck to just under his ear, sucking lightly. His breath hitched in his throat and felt her smile into his neck. 

Meanwhile Matt had moved to rubbing the oil into the soft skin of her backside, one hand sliding down between her cheeks, lightly running over the sensitive areas, causing her to squirm a bit. He gathered a little more oil on the fingers of the other hand and slid them down between her cheeks as well, but stopping higher up, his fingers circling around that entrance. With the other hand still lightly rubbing lower, he gently pushed one finger into her. She took a deep breath in and made restless noise in her throat, squirming some more. He slid the one finger in and out a few times. Then he pulled out, dipping his fingers in the oil again, returning to slowly press two fingers in. He met a little resistance and heard a garbled noise in the back of her throat. She lifted her head and Lee took the opportunity to capture her mouth with his, shoving his tongue deeply into her mouth. Matt continued rubbing his fingers down low, sliding a finger in there as well, while letting her adjust. Soon he could feel her relaxing again and started sliding those fingers in and out gently. He could see Lee’s face and from that look, he slid his fingers out of Aisling entirely, earning a disappointed whine, making him smile a bit. Lee pushed and rolled him and Aisling back onto their sides, hitching one leg up over his hip while burying himself in her to the hilt. “Oh, god...” she sighed. While Matt moved in closer behind her, positioning himself at her back entrance. As he just barely pushed into her, Lee reached down to between where he and Aisling were joined and circled around that sensitive nub. Matt continued pushing into her until he was fully sheathed. They both started moving slowly, Matt’s hands coming up to cover Aisling’s breasts, lightly tweaking her nipples. Her hands made their way into their hair again. Lee’s mouth was still against hers, she moved hers slightly to suck on his bottom lip. Matt latched onto the junction of her neck and shoulder. After a few minutes, she started making some impatient noises and pulled hard on the fistfulls of hair that she had. As they started moving faster, Lee reached behind her knee and pushed it up, giving him deeper access. He not only hit the spot deep in that made her see stars, but slid right over it and bumped up against her cervix. She made a noise of surprise which turned into a moan. Then she gave a sharp yank on his hair hard enough to cause pain. He moved a little faster, Matt coming along with him, and soon he could feel her starting to clench around him. A couple more thrusts from both and she shattered around them, her body going completely rigid, biting hard on Lee’s lip. The combination of feeling her around him and the pain in his lip had him releasing deep in her. Matt was able to feel both of them, one more thrust had him spurting deep inside her as well. It took several moments for them to start breathing normally and for any of them to be able to move.

The first to move was Lee. He realized how far he had pushed her leg and gently brought it back down to rest on his hip. Aisling had released his lip, but he brushed his mouth against hers. “I’m sorry if I hurt your lip,” he heard her say softly, her tongue sofly sweeping across it as she also released her grip on his hair. “I’m sure it’s fine,” he said, returning the gesture and tracing along her bottom lip. She felt Matt kiss the back of her neck. “Hope I didn’t pull too much of your hair out, either, boo,” she said to Matt, also releasing her hold on his hair and softly running her hand over where she had been pulling. “Not too much, baby girl,” he said, kissing her neck again and slowly sliding out of her. She sighed and then jumped just a little as she could still feel Lee twitching just a little. Then she made a little sound of disappointment as he slid out of her, too. “I’m sorry, baby, but I had to sometime.”

Matt had moved slightly and Aisling rolled onto her back. “You two are going to be the death of me. I can’t move,” she said in mock annoyance. “Well you don’t have to,” Matt said, one hand moving to the top of her thigh-high, “let’s get these and the shoes off you and then we can snuggle up for a little while.” He proceeded to peel one down her leg while Lee took care of the other side. They both moved back up to lie on either side of her, Matt pulling one of the blankets up over them. Lee rolled to his side and draped an arm over her waist. Soon both Matt and Lee were out, Aisling could tell from their breathing. She turned on her side, snuggling into Lee. His arms came around her, but he didn’t wake. She was just about asleep when she felt Matt shuffle in closer behind her and throw an arm over both of them, with a soft “love you” whispered in her ear. She fell asleep to hearing Lee’s heartbeat and feeling Matt’s.

Sometime just after dawn, the sun reflecting off a mirror woke Aisling up. She had apparently turned in her sleep as Lee was now plastered to her back, one leg wedged in-between hers. One arm was bent under her head, his other arm was wrapped around her, his hand lightly around her throat. She woke up a little more and opened her eyes. She was greeted by the glorious sight of Matt’s chest and neck. She realized that his arm was wrapped around her, his hand resting on her ass and one leg was up over her hip. Aisling smiled a little and pulled her hand out from where it was between them and lightly ran her fingers up his arm to his shoulder and across his collarbone. Goosebumps formed and she smiled wider. She had noticed not too long ago that they were both very sensitive to light touches. Even in sleep Matt was reacting. She leaned forward a little and lightly kissed his chest, snaking her arm around to run her fingers up and down his spine. She heard a soft sigh escape his mouth, and smiled again against his skin. His hand tightened on her ass as she felt him kissing the top of her head. “Are you awake?” she whispered, tipping her head up to nuzzle at his jaw. “Nope, I must be dreaming because of the two beautiful angels I’m sleeping with,” he whispered, moving his head enough to kiss her. “What time is it?” Matt asked when they broke apart. Aisling could see the clock on the wall behind him, “It’s almost 7. What time do we need to have him back at the Convention Center?” “Not until 10. Now will you two shut up and let me sleep,” a typically cranky Lee growled. They both snorted at that, Aisling pulling the hand that was around her throat up to kiss the palm. “I’m sorry sweetness. But we can’t lay here too much longer.” “I don’t wanna,” Lee said with a whine that would have embarrassed a two-year-old. They both laughed at that. Matt pulled his hand out from behind Aisling, reached up and ran his hand through Lee’s hair, “I’m sorry babe, but she’s right. We need to get showered and packed and find something to eat.” All they heard was an irritated grunt.

After about 5 minutes, Matt sighed, and rolled over onto his back. He ran his hand over his face, then levered himself up off the floor, and wandered off in the direction of the bathroom. Aisling heard the shower start. She thought briefly of getting up and joining him, but then she felt Lee’s mouth brushing across the back of her neck. She turned over to face him, softly kissing his throat. “Good morning, sweetness,” she whispered. An annoyed noise was his response. Suddenly he rolled onto his back taking her with him. He wrapped one arm around her, the hand of the other cupping her jaw and tipping her head back. Lee lightly rubbed his lips against her mouth before kissing her, his tongue delving deeply into her mouth. After a few moments, she pushed back with her tongue and shoved into his mouth, earning a soft groan out of him. They broke apart after a while, gasping for breath. “You are far too tempting this morning, sweetness. We really need to stop or we’re not going to get you back over there in time.” “I’m the star, they have to wait for me.” Aisling chuckled softly at that because she knew he was just being silly. He was not one of those celebrities that made everyone wait for him. She had heard the shower turn off and could hear Matt moving around in the bedroom. She planted another kiss on his lips as she slid off of him and stood up, noticing a soreness in her hip. She started across the room towards the bedroom and the bathroom beyond, “C’mon, Mr. Star, let’s go get a shower,” she said over her shoulder with a wink. She walked through the bedroom, smacking Matt’s towel-covered ass on her way by him, getting a yelp out of him. “Brat. Have you gotten him moving yet?” “Yes she has,” they both heard as he moved by them, grabbing Aisling’s hand and pulling her into the bathroom behind him. He turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature. He picked her up and stepped into the shower, setting her to stand on the low shower bench across the side of the enclosure. This put her a little taller than Lee as she draped her arms around his neck. “I don’t get this angle very often,” she said smiling down at him as his hands rested on her waist. “Well don’t get too used to it,” he said as he picked her up and set her down under the spray from the shower head and washed her hair.

Ten minutes later, they were out and getting dressed. Lee went back into the living room area to pick up their stuff. Aisling was still in the bathroom doing her make-up when Matt came in. She shifted to make room for him, grimacing a little as she moved. “What’s the matter, baby girl?” he asked, seeing her face. “Oh, nothing really. Just Lee hyperextended my hip at some point last night and it’s sore.” He glanced towards the door, “You might not want to tell him just yet, you know he’ll feel bad.” “I know. It’s loosening up. I’ll tell him later, maybe…” “Well, just take it easy,” he said, leaning against the counter and pulling her over between his legs. “But other than that, how are you today?’ he asked as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Happy. How are you, boo?” “Great. I don’t say it enough, but I love both of you.” “I love you, too,” she said, leaning into him and kissing him. “Hey you two were the ones going on about having to hurry up and get ready and I come in here to find you making out?” They heard Lee trying to sound annoyed. They both started laughing, “Sorry, babe,” Matt said, “I was just telling Aisling that I don’t tell you two I love you enough.” Lee walked over and stopped so that he was behind Aisling, “So you’re going to tell her that, but leave me out?” He said with a pout. Matt lifted one of his hands from Ailsing’s waist and grabbed Lee’s shirt to pull him closer. “I love you, too,” he said as he pulled him even closer and kissed him. “If you two don’t stop, we’re never getting out of this room,” the heard Aisling huff. Soon after that, they had all their stuff collected and stopped to put it in the car since check-out was at noon.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

30 minutes later, Lee and Aisling were down on the Convention Center floor. They were a little earlier than intended and were just hanging out to the side of the area set up for him. Lee had sat down in one of the chairs. “Why don’t you sit down, babe? You know we’re going to be here a while,” he said, tugging on Aisling’s hand. “Because I’ll probably have to get up and move again in a few minutes and sitting down and standing back up hurts my hip.” “Huh? Why?” “Because somebody hyperextended it last night,” she said, with an accusing look, but there was no heat to it. “Oh, they did?” he said, pulling her to stand between his legs facing him. “Let me see if I can help,” he said, placing his hand on her hip and rubbing small circles with his thumb on the front. “Is that better?” he asked. “That feels great, but we are in public,” she said, looking down at him with her hands on either side of his neck, running her thumbs along his jaw. “I don’t care. Besides, there’s hardly anyone in here yet,” he said, pulling her in closer and wrapping his arms around her hips, chin resting on her breastbone, looking up at her. “I love you so much,” he said, his arms tightening, one hand splayed on her lower back. “I love you, too, sweetness.” She ran her hands through his hair, smiling at the look in his eyes, leaning down to kiss him. “You know you don’t have to hang out here with me all day,” he said when they broke apart. “I know. I think Matt and I will probably go wander around later. Where the hell did he go anyway?” she said, looking around. “I went to get us some decent drinks because what they’re calling tea and coffee here is a crime against humanity,” Matt said from behind her. “I got you a London Fog, baby girl,” he said, holding it over her shoulder, “and I got you a large coffee with the obscene amount of sugar you put in it,” handing another cup to Lee as he sat down in one of the chairs. “Oh, bless you, you beautiful man!” Aisling said, kissing him on the cheek. “Hey, how come he gets what I saw when I got here and I get a peck on the cheek?” he grumped at her. “Because he was apologizing for my hip being sore this morning.” “It’s not as if he was the only one there, I need to apologize, too,” he said, pulling on her hand to pull her closer. “You’re not the one that pushed it out that far…” “Just shut up and kiss me,” he said. “Why didn’t you just say that’s what you wanted in the first place?” she said, teasing him before complying with his demand.

Lee had a few more press interviews to do and Matt some things he wanted to go look at alone. Aisling decided to go wander around a little more, too. She was looking at some more artwork that someone had done of the Masked Bandit from “The Fall” and Calperina from “Soldier’s Girl”. There were so many that did versions of Thranduil that she was always pleasantly surprised when she saw what she thought were his two best rolls. As she was talking to the artist, she could feel someone looking at her. She looked at her watch and decided to head back over and see if Lee was back yet. When she turned around, she was stopped by a couple of volunteers, one of whom had been there in August. She had been insanely jealous of Aisling then because she got to work with Lee and Aisling knew it. She had told the other girl her version of what had happened. "I can't believe you're here after what you did last August. How the hell did you get an all access pass? Michael is going to kick you out if he catches you. In fact, I'm going to go tell him right now." "Go right ahead. He already knows I'm here and can't do a damn thing about it." "We'll just see about that." They both hurried off to go find Michael, but Aisling just shrugged. They didn’t know it, but what they thought of as “tattling” was really an empty threat.

Aisling ran into Julia on her way back to Lee’s area and told her about the two girls she had run into. They were almost there, but they could see the girls that had stopped Aisling were also there. Aisling could see Lee’s face and he was really uncomfortable with how close the jealous one was. She and Julia could also see Matt approaching from the other side. Aisling held up her hand, getting his attention and motioning him to stop and mouthing, “stay there” to him. She turned to Julia, “Those are the two I told you about. I’m going to have a little fun.” She moved so that she was walking up right behind them and Lee was facing her direction. He looked up and saw her, and she could see a little relief in his eyes. Before he could react any more, she held a finger up to her lips, telling him to be quiet, smiling and winking at him. She stopped for a moment, deciding what to say, when one of the girls unknowingly played right into her hands by putting a hand on his forearm. “Just what in the hell is going on here?” she said loudly from behind them. A look of pure shock appeared on Lee’s face, “Honey, I...it’s not what it looks like!” “I leave for two seconds and here you are, chatting up a volunteer! Is that what you do? Have a conquest at every one of these conventions?” “No! That’s not…” “Sure it’s not,” she swung around to look at the girl that had put her hand on Lee’s arm, “and you. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.” Julia had walked over to where Matt was and Aisling could see them out of the corner of her eye. They had a perfect view of the girls faces and were about to die trying not to laugh out loud. “But it’s not going to work. He’s mine,” she turned back to Lee, stood up on her tiptoes and pulled him down to give him the sloppiest kiss she could manage. “You’re bad,” he whispered, smiling against her mouth. “I know,” she said, breaking away from him. She turned around and the girls' mouths were just hanging open. “So you see, your little ‘threat’ to tattle on me to Michael is pretty empty. Now get away from me and my man before I go tattle on you.” They scurried off as she turned back around. “You really are bad,” Lee said as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up so they were face-to-face. “I know,” she said leaning in to kiss him again, “but it’s why you love me.” “That was hilarious,” they heard Julia say, “the one girl was here last August and I heard her talking to the other one earlier about how she couldn’t believe you were here. What were they saying to you anyway?” “They were trying to get me to take one of them to my room like I did with Aisling.” “That was never going to work,” Aisling said, “there’s no thunderstorm for one thing.” “I also didn’t fall for either of them the moment I met them, either.” “I’m just glad you caught on to what she was doing. The look of sheer terror on your face was hilarious,” Matt said, still laughing, “if we didn’t know how good you are, I would have believed it.” “Never mind that I don’t have a room to take anyone to right now,” he said, setting Aisling down. “Yes you do, sweetness, it’s just not here.” “That’s true and there’s only two people I’m taking there.” Matt in the meantime had sat down in one of the chairs and was still laughing. Aisling went over and sat down on his lap. He pulled her hair back, kissing her neck, “How’s your hip, baby?” “It’s feeling better, just a little sore.” “We need to be more careful with you.” “Not you, too. I’m not a delicate china doll. I’ll tell you if you’re being too rough,” she said, poking him. 

Julia stepped around the table, “I’m going to go find some drinks for Lee. Did you guys want anything, too?” “Yeah,” Aisling said standing up, “I’ll come with you. I need to keep moving.” About halfway over, Julia looked at Aisling, “Can I ask you a personal question? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” “Sure, go ahead.” “Just what did Matt mean that they had to be more careful with you?” “Oh...that…” she blushed, “it was _something_ that we did last night and my hip is sore...” “Oooh...OK…” 

They brought back some cokes and some snacks, too, for the rest of the afternoon. When Aisling and Julia got back, Lee was just leaving, “Where are you going, Babe?” Aisling asked him. “They decided to add another photo op session this afternoon.” “Seriously? Nice job of them springing it on you.” “I know, but what am I gonna do? Come with me?” as he grabbed her hand and pulled. “Sure, go ahead on over and I’ll catch up with you. I need to make a pit stop in the bathroom.” “OK, don’t be too long,” he said, kissing her on the head. She headed over to the bathrooms and while she was in a stall she heard a couple of girls come in talking about someone. “But they said his girlfriend was here with him.” “They’re wrong. I know for a fact that he’s gay and his boyfriend is here with him.” “I don’t care if he is, I still want to get a picture with him.” Aisling snorted to herself as she washed and dried her hands. She was pretty sure she knew who they were talking about and if they only knew.

She was walking over to where they were doing the photography when all of a sudden, someone grabbed her from behind, and “Are you lost, baby girl?” was whispered in her ear. “You dork. I should have never let you watch that movie,” she said laughing at Matt. “Where are you going?” he said, taking her hand. “Over to where they’re doing the photography. They sprung another session on him.” “Really?” “Yeah, he wasn’t overly thrilled, but you know how he is. They’ve already got people lined up and you know he won’t say ‘no’.” 

They found him sitting on a stool waiting for the photographer. Aisling stopped in front of him and he reached out and pulled her in close to kiss her, “There you are...and I was just getting ready to text you,” he said to Matt who was still holding Aisling’s hand. About that time, the photographer showed up. “None of you move, this will make a perfect picture!” While they let her take a few pictures of them together, the fans that were getting a picture with him had started lining up. Matt and Aisling moved over to the side out of the way. Lee still had his drink and came over to hand it to Matt with a quick kiss. Aisling moved to stand in front of Matt who wound one arm around her waist, kissing her neck. Aisling could hear a couple of girls talking, “I told you he was here with his boyfriend.” It was the girls she had heard in the bathroom. “But why does his boyfriend have his arms around that girl and why is he kissing her?” Aisling started laughing a little. “What’s so funny?” Matt asked. “Those two girls right there, the two blondes with the Thranduil t-shirts? I heard them talking in the bathroom a few minutes ago. One thinks Lee is here with his girlfriend, but the other one knows ‘for a fact’,” this said with air quotes, “that he’s gay and that he’s here with his boyfriend.” Matt snorted, “If they only knew.” “That’s what I thought.”

An hour later, the pictures were wrapped up, and the three of them headed back to Lee’s area. He was actually done, but they had left some things over there they needed to pick up before they headed home. Julia happened to be there when they got back. “It was so great seeing you again,” she said to Aisling, “and so great meeting both of you,” turning to Matt and Lee. “It was great seeing you, too. Even with the little bit of drama yesterday, it was actually a lot of fun,” Aisling said, hugging Julia “I’m still jealous of how freaking lucky you are,” Julia whispered in her ear. “I can’t believe it myself sometimes either.”

“I like meeting the fans, but I’ll be happy to go home and not talk to anyone for a couple of days,” Lee said as they were walking out to the car. “I know Babe,” Matt said, “how about we just order in a pizza for dinner and just watch a movie tonight?” “That sounds like a great idea,” Lee said. “Even though last night was fantastic, it will be great to sleep in our bed,” Aisling said. She pulled up the app for a local pizza place and put in an order while Matt drove home, with Lee crashed in the back seat. They got home and had just finished putting everything away when the pizza got there. They changed into some comfortable clothes, took the pizza and some beers into the living room and began the usual game of Matt and Lee trying to pick a movie that didn’t have an attractive male lead. Aisling rolled her eyes at them, “I’ve got an idea. You two still haven’t seen the rest of the Harry Potter movies. How about we continue watching those?” “That sounds good,” Lee said. She pulled up the fourth one that they had started but never finished. Since Aisling had seen the movies several times already, she cleaned up the leftovers and empty beer bottles when they were done eating while the boys watched it. She pulled up the fifth film. Lee had stretched out on the couch with his head on a pillow in Matt’s lap. He turned on his side and held his hand out to Aisling to pull her to lay down in front of him, tucking her up under his chin. By the time that movie was over, they were all dozing off. “I think we’d be more comfortable in our bed,” Aisling said getting up, turning off the TV and heading into the bedroom. Matt followed her immediately, Lee checked to make sure everything was locked up. Aisling and Matt were in bed already by the time he got in there. He turned out the lights and crawled in next to Aisling, pulling her closer to him, “This convention was a lot more fun than the last one.” “You mean more fun than chatting up your handler and taking her to your room?” “Yes, because there was none of the drama that had happened before. None of the uncertainty that I left that one with. I had the two people I love with me this time,” he said softly. He tilted his head down so he could kiss Aisling. They broke apart and he tucked her in close to his chest. Matt slid over close behind Aisling, reaching across them behind Lee’s head to pull him close to kiss him. “Don’t you ever forget that either,” Aisling said, gently kissing the notch in Lee’s throat. They were all asleep in minutes.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of "Voodoo"...but not the last chapter of the story. 
> 
> Our happy triad will be back in a couple of weeks with "A Place In the Country".

Chapter 29

Around 4 the next morning, they were all startled awake by Matt’s phone. “Who the fuck is calling you so fucking early?” Lee growled, as Aisling turned into him and shoved her face in his neck, groaning. Matt didn’t so much get up as almost fall out of bed, “Fuck if I know. But if somebody isn’t dead, they soon will be.” They heard him bump into the desk in the office, “Ow...shit! Do you have any idea what time it is here?” they heard him demand of whoever was calling. Lee’s arms tightened around Aisling and he rolled to his back and settled her on top of him. He was drawing circles lightly on her back with his fingers, but started getting slower. He stopped altogether a couple of times and finally his hand just flattened on her back and his breathing evened out. “For fuck’s sake. You can shut up and wait until I get there,” Aisling heard Matt slam his phone on the desk. He was muttering to himself as he crossed through the bedroom and into the closet. He came back out in a couple of minutes and flopped on the bed with an exasperated noise. “What’s the matter?” Aisling asked quietly. “Nothing, just a big huge fucking screw-up with the show scheduled in two weeks. Nobody else can figure out how the fuck to fix it, so…” “So you have to go to New York again?” “Yes...dammit. I don’t know for how long either.” “When are you leaving?” “That’s the best part. Someone took the liberty of scheduling me a flight at 8 this morning.” “So you need to leave for the Sunport in an hour,” she said, reaching out to run her hand over his chest. He moved over closer and she ran her hand up to cup his chin as she shifted over a little to kiss him. She could tell he was still mad and resisted her, but he finally gave in with a large sigh. “I’ll miss you, we both will,” she whispered against his lips when they broke apart. “I’ll miss you, too.” He looked at the clock, “I really need to get moving if I want a shower before I leave.” “Do you need any... _help_?” Aisling asked suggestively. “No, you minx. I’ll never make my flight with that kind of _help_ ,” he said, sitting up on the side of the bed. He turned around and leaned over to give her another quick kiss, “Go back to sleep, baby girl.” He went into the bathroom and she heard the shower start. She listened to the sound of it while tracing Lee’s collarbone lightly with her finger, eventually falling back asleep. Ten minutes later, Matt came out of the bathroom and crossed over to the closet and finished getting packed as quietly as he could. He came back out, taking one last look at both of them before heading out for the Sunport.

Somewhere around six, Lee woke up. He remembered Matt’s phone going off sometime earlier and vaguely remembered pulling Aisling on top of him. He was still on his back, but now he was alone. He wondered where everyone was and as he rolled over to get out of bed, a dull pain radiated across his lower back. “Ow...shit...damn,” he groaned just as Aisling came back into the bedroom. “What’s the matter, baby boy?” she asked as she climbed back in bed. “I was just wondering where everyone went.” “I was just getting a drink. You didn’t hear anything after Matt’s phone went off, did you?” “Nope. Where is he?” “He is at the Sunport, probably getting ready to board a plane soon. There was some huge problem with the show that apparently nobody can fix but him.” “Why did he leave so early, though? Why not get a flight later today?” he asked, wincing in obvious pain and rubbing his back. “He didn’t really have much of a choice. Somebody booked it for him. What’s wrong? Why the face?” “Oh, nothing much. My back is bothering me. Who the hell just schedules a flight for someone else like that?” “I have no idea, but he was less than pleased. Now come here,” she said, pulling at his shoulder, “Lie down on your stomach.” When he had, Aisling straddled him just below his hips. “Where does it hurt the most?” she asked. “Kind of all over down here,” Lee said, running his hand across most of his lower back. “Let me see what I can do about that,” she said. He could hear her rubbing her hands together to warm them up. Then he felt them warm and smoothing down his back, softly exploring. When she got to his lower back, she lightly dug her thumbs in on either side of his spine. He flinched a little. “Your upper back is knotted up a little, but your lower back is so tight babe. Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” He shrugged, “It wasn’t that bad.” “Stay there. I’ll be right back,” she whispered with a soft kiss between his shoulder blades. 

He heard her go into the bathroom then felt the bed dip as she sat down on the side and turned on the iPod on the dock next to the bed and pulled up a quiet playlist. Then she returned to where she had been straddling his legs. Something very soft swept across his shoulders, causing him to shiver and goosebumps to form. It then continued down his spine. “What is that?” “It’s a glove supposedly made out of mink, but I don’t think it is. But it’s soft and supposedly helps release tension. Now hush, babe.” Aisling smiled, watching goosebumps chase where she went with the glove. After a few minutes she could tell he was relaxing. She got rid of the glove and starting up on his shoulders, she started working the knots out. There weren’t that many, but when she got down to his lower back, she could feel the muscles were still tight. She shifted up on her knees, and, starting on one side of his back, pushed her knuckles gently into the muscles. He flinched and grunted in pain. “I’m sorry, baby, I know it hurts, but it will feel better.” She continued working and a few minutes later she could feel the muscles finally turn loose and him relaxing. “Does that feel better, baby boy?” she asked quietly. “Mmm-hmmmm…” was his response. “You’re not going back to sleep are you?” “No...that just feels so much better.” Aisling picked up the glove again and ran it lightly across his lower back again, just where the curve of his backside started, rewarded again by goosebumps and a little shifting of his hips. She couldn’t help herself, slid up a bit, leaned over and kissed the dimples in his back. He jumped a little. She laughed a little as she continued her way up his spine leaving little butterfly kisses. When she reached his shoulders, she whispered in his ear, while running her hand through his hair, “Does that feel better?” “Yes it does...thank you,” as his hand reached around to the back of her neck to pull her close and kiss her almost in desperation. He broke away from her, turned over, grabbing the pillows, and pushed them so that he could lean against the wall. He then grabbed Aisling by the upper arms and pulled her up to lay on him. “You might have released the tension in my back, but now I’ve got ‘tension’ in some other places.” “Yeah I can feel that,” she said, moving slightly. Which earned a groan out of Lee as he had wound up trapping himself between them when he pulled her up. “I don’t think it’s fair that I’m the only one suffering, minx.” Somehow, he had managed to snag the glove and started ghosting it up and down her back, down around her hip, and trailing up between her legs. She started squirming a little, which made him realize that maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. “Got a problem there, babe?” she asked breathlessly, trying to feign innocence, even though she could see his pupils were blown so wide there was hardly any green to see around the edges. He was breathing faster and had tossed the glove off somewhere. “Let me see if I can help you out,” she said, moving up a little more. 

She pulled her legs up to straddle him, grasping him, and lifted up just enough so that she could guide him in and sank down on him slowly. His breathing changed again and his hands came up to her hips. “Oh my god...babe…” he groaned. She didn’t move for a moment, but then lifted her arms to brace herself on the wall on either side of his head. One hand snaked around her back to pull her in closer, while the other trailed up her side to cup one breast as his mouth closed around it. Sucking hard at first then flicking the nipple with his tongue. She groaned low in the back of her throat and squirmed a little, her arms coming down around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. He shifted so that he was sitting up more and pulled her legs to wrap around him as he started rocking up into her. He was once more not only hitting that sweet spot inside, but sliding over it and hitting deeper. It was almost too intense and she tried to pull up off of him. “Where do you think you’re going?” he growled, his fingers digging into her hips tight to hold her in place while he started moving harder and a little faster up into her. She lowered her head and crushed her mouth to his, fisting her hands in his hair. She pulled his hair hard but for once, it didn’t get the desired response. He broke from her mouth, “Not this time, minx,” and flipped them over. This resulted in his thighs being underneath hers. He stilled in her, running one hand up over her hip and then back down, stopping at the tight nub above where they were joined, gently rubbing it with his thumb. Aisling squirmed, clenching around him and that was almost his undoing. He slid his hand back down around the outside of one leg. He stopped at her knee, hooking his hand under it and pushing it up as he followed it with his upper body and started moving in and out of her slowly. Her other leg wrapped up around his hip and she pushed with her heel in the middle of his ass cheek. He still didn’t respond to her silent request the way she wanted, “I said, not this time,” as he captured one of her hands, lacing his fingers with hers and pushing it down into the pillows next to her head. He then lowered his head, his lips barely brushing hers. Her other hand came up around the back of his neck and threaded into his hair. All this time he continued moving slowly, staring into her eyes. After a while, Aisling couldn’t take any more, “Lee...please…” “Please what, baby?” he asked, his lips still just brushing hers. She arched her back a little and heard his breath hitch a little, “You know what. Come with me babe,” she said, pulling him down just enough to push her tongue into his mouth and arching her back again. He pushed hard one more time as her vision went white around the edges, she was barely aware of feeling him pulsing hot inside her at the same time. 

After a couple of minutes, their breathing started returning to normal. Lee buried his face in the side of Aisling’s neck, softly kissing under her ear, she could feel him still twitching in her. She moved the hand that had been at the back of his neck to smooth his hair back from the side of his face. He tried to shift to pull out of her, but she tightened the leg that was still wrapped around him. “Babe, I need to or you’re going to get sore.” “Fine,” she grumbled. He slid out of her, propped up on one elbow, lifted the other hand he was still holding hers with, turning it to kiss her hand, “I love you so much.” She raised her other hand to run it down the side of his face and ran her thumb across his bottom lip, “I love you, too.” He leaned down to softly kiss her, shifting a little more, turning loose of her hand, and rolling on his side, pulling her with him. Her arm came around to lightly trace up his spine, getting a little shiver out of him. He hugged her tight to him with a contented sound in the back of his throat that almost sounded like a purr. He felt her smile into his neck. “I really would walk through fire for you,” he said suddenly. “What are you talking about?” “That Harry Styles song you love. It’s on your playlist. Just let me adore you,” he said kissing, the top of her head. After a few minutes he said quietly, “Not to break the mood, but you never did show me what was wrapped in that brown paper.” “Oh! That...let me go get it,” she tried to get up, but Lee wouldn’t turn loose, “Babe…” “Can’t you just tell me what it is?” he whined. “No, baby, I want you to see it.” “OK...I’ll miss you,” he pouted. She laughed as she slid off the bed when he finally released his hold, “You dork, I’m just going to the office. I’ll be gone literally a minute.” 

While she went to get the package, Lee pushed the pillows back up so that he could lean against the wall comfortably. She came back, laid the package on his legs, and sat cross-legged next to him. “Uh-uh...c’mere,” he said, moving it to the side and pulling her to sit between his legs. His hands smoothed over her hips because he’d noticed marks that were exactly where his fingers had been earlier. “Damn, baby, I bruised you again,” he said with an ashamed look. She grabbed his jaw in her hand forcing him to look at her, “Don’t you dare apologize. It’s not as if I haven’t left my share of marks on you.” “But people will think…” “One, nobody’s going to see these but Matt. Two, all that matters is that _I_ know you don’t and you never would,” she said, kissing him hard before turning loose, “Now open your present.” He pulled the covers back over them, then pulled the package back over in front of them. He leaned his chin on her shoulder and pulled the paper off. Aisling could see his face when he turned it over. “This is so...wow!” It was an original ink line drawing of all of his characters in a setting that had them all interacting with each other. Aisling knew he’d love it the second she saw it. “Do you like it?” “I love it! I can’t imagine how much time this took. I’d love to have some more of his work, honestly.” “ _Her_ work. Lucky for you, I got her card, too, and she does take commissions.” “I know the perfect place to hang this, too.” “Oh, you do? Where?” “I want to ask you something first. I was thinking yesterday while I was in-between interviews...would you consider...moving to the farm...with us?” “Yes.” “It’s just that I’ve been gone from there for a long time, I’d like you to meet Pete and the chickens...wait. What?” “Yes, I’d love to move up there and move in with both of you. The lease is almost up here anyway. It would be easier for Matt, too, for work. I can work anywhere. Now where do you want to hang this?” “It would look perfect over the fireplace in the master bedroom.” “There’s a fireplace in the bedroom?” “Yes, there is...as well as the kitchen, the den, a couple other bedrooms…” “Wait...just how big is this place?” “You’ll just have to wait and find out.” “When did you want to move?” “How about we wait until Matt gets back? We don’t have as much to pack up as you do. So maybe a couple of weeks?” “I won’t have that much either. I don’t need to take my furniture. I can take what I need for a couple of weeks and have everything else and my Jeep shipped later.” “I haven’t heard yet, but I’ll probably have some more work to do on 'Eryn'. We’ve wrapped filming, but there’s always sound work to do.” “Whenever, babe. I’ll get some boxes today and start packing.” “But not for a few hours yet,” he picked up his phone, looking at the weather, “It’s cold out there and I can hear the wind blowing. I don’t have anywhere to go, you don’t have anywhere to go. So we’re staying in this bed for awhile. I haven’t gotten to just snuggle down with you for a long time.” “Good. I can ask you more about this house and it’s fireplace in the master bedroom.” 

They spent the next couple of hours curled up with Aisling quizzing Lee about the farm. “Damn, you didn’t ask me this many questions in August.” “Well, I had no idea I’d be moving there in six months either. Now as great as this has been this morning, I really want and need a shower. Come with me?” she asked, sliding off the bed and heading to the bathroom. “That is a silly question, my love.” Before either of them made it, Lee’s phone went off with its default ringtone. “That’s weird. Most everyone texts me,” he said walking back over to pick it up, “It’s one of the producers. I guess I better take it.” “OK, I’ll wait.” “Hey Lupe, what’s up?” After a couple of minutes he sighed and said, “Could you hold on a sec? Babe, go ahead without me. I have no idea how long this is going to take.” “What’s going on?” “There’s some scenes that they need to reshoot. I thought we had wrapped all of that, but I guess not.” “OK. Do what you need to do,” she said, walking over to him and going up on her toes, “Kiss me first?” “Always,” he said, leaning down to do just that. 

While he was talking to Lupe, he heard the shower start and walked over into the office. He grabbed a pair of sweats on the way and opened up his computer. While they discussed what needed to be redone and what kind of schedule they were looking at, he found what he was looking for for a couple of surprises for Aisling. He got done with the call about 10 minutes later. He could still hear the water running and smiled to himself as he finished up one surprise for her. He was just about done with the second one when he heard the water go off and hurried to finish it. 

“So what needs to be reshot?” Aisling asked about 5 minutes later when Lee came into the bathroom while she was pulling up her hair. “Just two scenes, including that one from when I dumped myself off Thranduil’s throne.” She snorted, “Laugh it up,” he said, swatting her on the behind. “I’m sorry babe, but it’s funny. As graceful as he’s supposed to be…” she started laughing harder. “Keep it up and I’m going to put you over my knee,” he said, coming right up behind her, looking at her in the mirror. “Promise?” she asked, looking back at him with a smirk. “Don’t tempt me,” as he wrapped his arms around her. She put one hand over one of his and lifted it to kiss the palm, “I’ll remove the temptation. I need to go get us some food.” “Can you wait awhile for me to get ready and come with you?” “Of course I will. I can start looking for how to get my stuff and car moved up to the farm.” “Don’t be in too big of a hurry. We’re not going anywhere for a couple of weeks.” “OK,” she said, thinking that he looked like he was up to something. 

Aisling leaned on the door frame to the bedroom, watching Lee tie his shoes. He looked up, “What?” “Nothing. I was just thinking this means you’re going to have to shave that scruff off again. I like the scruff.” “You won’t miss it for long. As soon as we’re done for this first series, it’s coming back.” “Good. You ready?” “Yeah, let me just grab a jacket.” She walked over by the front door to grab a jacket for herself. “Are you sure that’s heavy enough?” Lee asked her. “Babe, I’ve got on two shirts and this is a fleece-lined flannel. I’ll be fine.” He didn’t look convinced. He was even less convinced when they stepped outside just as a strong gust came screaming around the corner of the building. But it didn’t seem to deter Aisling in the slightest. As soon as they got out of the car, Lee came around and tucked her under his arm while walking in. “You do know I grew up with this weather every year? I’m fine.” “I know, but I’m not used to it. Indulge me.” She laughed at him. He kept close to her in the store, but leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I’m going to go get us some ice cream,” with a soft kiss under her ear. She smiled as she watched him walk off. She was over another aisle when suddenly someone’s hand covered her eyes. She froze because she knew that was not Lee’s hand. “Guess who?” she heard close to her ear. “ _Oh, shit_ ,” she thought to herself, “ _what in the hell does he want_?” “I suggest you get your hand off of me, Edward, if you want to keep it,” she ground out. “Hey now, no reason to be hostile!” “What do you want?” “I haven’t seen you for a while and wondered if you’d be interested in going out to dinner with me?” “Really? Why now?” “I’ve missed you.” “Bullshit. I told you back in July I was done. You can’t just disappear and then pop up again whenever it suits you. Besides, I’m with someone.” “So what?” “I can’t believe you’d suggest something like that. My partners are the world to me. I would never…” “We could always keep it on the downlow.” “Leave me alone!” He grabbed her hand and tried to kiss her. She pulled back and smacked him hard across the face. “You always did have a temper, Aisling. Maybe I should give you a lesson in controlling it,” he said, leering at her and trying again. She balled up her fist and was pulling her arm back to punch him when Lee suddenly stepped in-between them, pushing Edward back. “I think the lady said to leave her alone.” “Who the hell do you think you are? Some white knight?” Edward sputtered. “No, she doesn’t need a white knight. But if you’d like, I’ll go ahead and let her deck you…” Aisling was standing right behind him with her hands fisted in the back of his jacket and he could feel her shaking with anger. “Ha! You know what? You’re more than welcome to her. I’ve tried to teach her how to behave and she’s untrainable.” With that, Edward stalked off. Lee tried to turn around, but the way Aisling was gripping his jacket, he couldn’t. “Hey, he’s gone, you can turn loose now.” Her grip loosened and her hands fell away. He turned around, “Are you OK? Did he hurt you?” “No, he only grabbed my hand. I smacked him hard across the face before he could do anything else.” “Who the hell is he?” “Can we finish getting our stuff first and I’ll tell you at home?” “Sure, baby,” he said, hugging her tight. 

Thirty minutes later, they were back at the apartment and had put everything up. “OK, come here and tell me what that was all about,” Lee said, pulling Aisling into the living room. He sat down in the overstuffed chair and pulled her down into his lap. “That was Edward. I dated him off-and-on for several years.” “On-and-off?” “Yeah, mainly because he’d just drop out of my life for weeks at a time.” “I don’t get guys that do that.” “I finally got tired of it and told him we were done for good last July. Clearly, he didn’t get the message.” “Why did you smack him?” “He basically suggested that I cheat on you two with him.” “He’s lucky all you did was smack him. But you were about to punch him when I got there.” “He never could handle my temper and he always wanted to ‘teach me a lesson’.” “Did he ever actually lay a hand on you?” No, I wouldn’t have put up with it anyway.” He pulled her down to hug her tight. “He’s lucky he didn’t try anything today.” They sat in silence for a few minutes. Aisling sighed, “OK. Time for a change of subject. When do you need to go to the studio?” “Tomorrow morning. But I don’t have to be there until ten and we’re not expecting to go much past about 4pm. So I’ll be home fairly early,” He could hear the wind still blowing and it hadn’t gotten any warmer. “How about we just curl up on the couch and watch some movies this afternoon and I’ll make us some grilled cheese and soup for dinner?” “Sounds great to me. I’d suggest the rest of the Harry Potter movies, but I think Matt would get mad if we left him out.” They got settled on the couch, Lee leaning on the arm, Aisling curled up on top of him. “So what do you want to watch, baby boy?” Aisling asked him. “You’re gonna laugh at me, but there is a TV show that I like that I’m behind on.” “I don’t laugh at Matt and his romantic comedies, I’m not going to laugh at you. Which one?” “‘Grey’s Anatomy’? If you don’t want to…” “No! That’s fine. I watch it, too. How far behind are you?” “The middle of season 14? We can watch something else since you’ve seen it” “You are behind, they just finished season 16. But that’s OK, I don’t mind watching it again.” 

Around 5:30, both of their phones went off. Aisling got up and brought them back over. “I was wondering why we hadn’t heard from him yet,” she said as she read a text from Matt while handing Lee his phone, settling back where she had been. Three more texts came in on Aisling’s and two on Lee’s. “Oh, he mad,” Lee said laughing. “Do you want to answer him, or do you want me to?” Aisling asked. “I think we both need to answer him and see if we can calm him down,” Lee replied. They did that. Aisling got a response back from him first. “Looks like he’ll be back for a couple of days next weekend.” “If you think you can be ready, we could make our move then.” “I think I could be. I’ll have to find somewhere to store my things until I can arrange to get it shipped. Not to mention booking a flight.” “Actually, you won’t have to worry about any of that.” “What do you mean? What did you do?” “I have chartered a Gulfstream for us. All you have to do is get everything you want to take into boxes. They’ll be picked up here and put on the plane. You’ll still need to keep some clothes and things out.” “Why? And what about my Jeep?” “Because we’re flying into JFK. I thought we could spend a few days in New York City since I do still have an apartment there. All your stuff will be waiting for us at the farm...along with your Jeep. I’m going to have that moved up there, too.” She just blinked at him for a few beats. “You...how...when did you do all that?” “While I was talking to Lupe.” “But what about what you’re reshooting?” “Like I said, it’s only two scenes. We’ll be done by Friday.” “Does Matt know?” “That I was going to ask you to move up to the farm with us? Yes. I just texted him that you said ‘yes’. I’ll text him now about when we’re moving.” “Where was he staying after he moved out anyway?” “His company has an apartment for international guests. I’m going to guess there.” While he was texting Matt, Aisling just looked at him, smiling. “What?” “Just still can’t believe how lucky I am.” “I’m the lucky one, babe.” Lee gently pulled Aisling up to kiss her. They both started laughing though, when Aisling’s stomach growled. “I guess I better go make that soup and grilled cheese sandwiches before you waste away from hunger,” he said with another quick kiss. 

While Lee was making their food, Aisling started thinking about what she wanted to move. Like she told him earlier, all the furniture was staying. She was in the closet and had started pulling some things down when Lee came looking for her. “Hey, you don’t have to start packing tonight. Dinner is ready and I want to spend this evening on the couch with you relaxing because we’re going to be really busy for the next week.” “Sorry, I just got a little carried away.” “Well, let me carry you away,” he said, sweeping her up in his arms. He deposited her on the couch with a “Stay there” and brought their food in. Aisling pulled “Grey’s” back up while they ate and she insisted on cleaning up since she'd already seen what he was watching. It didn’t take long before she was back curled up on the couch with him. Somewhere around 10pm, she started yawning and dozed off. “Hey, babe, why don’t we go to bed?” Lee whispered in her ear. “No, I’m awake.” “You fell asleep, sweetheart. Come on.” He stood up taking her with him and taking her into the bedroom. He sat her on the bed, “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m just going to lock up and turn out the lights.” By the time he’d gotten back, she’d stripped off, crawled in bed, and was asleep. He shed his clothes, too, and got into bed, settling behind her and pulling her back against him. She sighed, “If anyone had told me six months ago I’d be moving to a farm in upstate New York and living there with you two, I would have said they were insane. I still can’t quite believe it sometimes.” “Believe it, baby. We both love you and know how lucky we are.” “I love you both, too. More than I thought I could.” She turned her head to kiss him. They broke apart and settled again and were both asleep in moments. 

...To be continued in “A Place In the Country" 


End file.
